


More Than Survive

by gracesjasons (sweetharry)



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, F/F, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Love Triangles, M/M, Minor Violence, Mutual Pining, Secrets, Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-13
Updated: 2019-06-03
Packaged: 2019-10-27 05:38:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 26
Words: 114,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17760821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetharry/pseuds/gracesjasons
Summary: After being kicked out of his previous boarding school for reasons he really doesn't want anyone else to know, Jason Grace is forced to transfer to his older sister's Alma mater, Goode High school. In this new environment, Jason is faced with upholding the reputation his sister left behind, an influx of unfairly attractive new friends, and making sure his secret stays a secret until the day he graduates.





	1. Thalia Grace's brother

When Jason stepped out of his car at the front of Goode High School, he had no idea what he was getting himself into. His sister said this would be good for him. She always insisted that private school sheltered him, and although he had made a clear choice to focus on academics which led him to said private school, she always told him that you can have fun _and_ be smart. At that point, she would always tell the story of her friend who was smarter than Jason and still attended their school no problem. Though despite Thalia's best efforts, she never seemed to convince him to make the switch.

Jason always had a bit of a one track mind when it came to things like school and his future, so he always thought going to school with his sister would just open a can of worms for distraction. That’s why he always said _no,_ when she asked him about transferring. No, because he needed to focus, and he liked attending school in remote part of the state an hour and a half away. Well, that was half true. Saying he liked it there was a stretch, but nevertheless, he continued to deflect her claims, even after she graduated. And Jason fully intended to stay in his school all four years, because getting kicked out of boarding school was never his plan. But somehow it happened, and Jason had no other choice but to suck it up, and transfer to a life he is wholly unfamiliar with: that of a normal 17 year old boy.  

*

Now Jason isn’t the best with social cues, but from the second he walks onto school grounds, he can tell people are staring at him. He self-consciously runs a hand through his hair, and does a quick wipe of his face to make sure he wasn’t do anything ridiculous to warrant their attention, before tightening his hand around the strap of his backpack and continuing on. He’s pretty sure he doesn’t look stupid, but he can’t be sure. And if they think he looks stupid now, wait until they seem him chuck on his glasses. He tries to offset the awkwardness by offering smiles to those who he passes, and thankfully they seem to smile back. That eases him a little bit. One of Jason’s best qualities has always been his kindness, so he’s glad he can at least hold onto that here.

“Hi.” he says, as he reaches the main office. The woman looks up at him and pushes her glasses up unto the bridge of her nose, waiting for him to say more. “I’m, uh, Jason Grace. I just transferred here from Edgarton Day and Boarding school.”

She narrows her eyes at him. “Grace...” she murmurs, reaching into the filing cabinet beside her. “Have any siblings?”

 “Uh yeah, Thalia Grace. She went here a couple of years ago.”

 The woman chuckles, and sets a piece of paper in front of him. “I knew I could see a resemblance.” she says. “Bit of a troublemaker, but always one of my favorites. Here’s your schedule.”

Jason grabs the paper, and offers a quick thank you, before scouting out for his homeroom. The school is fairly easy to navigate, so Jason simply heads up to the second floor, and finds his classroom. There is still a buzz of talking when he enters, so he’s thankful to see he isn't late. That would drive him insane to give a bad impression on his first day. He quickly walks over to where the teacher is at his desk, and although he's facing away, he can feel the stares on his back once again.

“Mr. D?” he asks, and the man swivels in his chair to look at him. He looks particularly grumpy, as he's locked onto Jason with a beady eyed stare, but Jason can’t help but feel the attitude isn’t specifically targeted at him.

“You’re the Grace boy.” he huffs. “The delinquent.”

Jason almost chokes on his tongue.

“The _what_?”

Mr. D waves him away. “I don’t mind. I heard you were a good student up until the incident, so I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. Just sit down, and I’ll assign you a locker before class ends.”

Jason does as he’s told, but he can’t ignore that twisting feeling in his stomach about what Mr. D said to him. Does everyone know? Is that going to be his brand around here? He thought it was under wraps enough but clearly- 

He’s cut off from his personal crisis by a pencil poking him in the arm.

He follows the point of the pencil digging into his arm to the other end, where a girl is looking at him with wide golden eyes. She’s cute, is Jason’s first thought as he takes in the dark curls framing her face. His eyes drift to the sketchpad on her desk displaying some half finished drawings of what look to be horses.

“You’re new.” she says simply, retracting her pencil, and glancing back down to add another line to her drawing.

“Uh yeah.” he says, offering her a hand. “M’Jason.” She glances up from her drawing briefly, to take his hand and give him a smile.

“Nice to meet you Jason. I’m Hazel.”

“Nice to meet you.” 

She turns back to her drawings, and Jason can’t help but notice she seems to be the only one in the school who isn't staring at him like he’s a freak, or an alien invader.

“Say Hazel, can I ask you something?”

“Are you going to ask my why everyone is staring at you?”

He freezes for a second, and Hazel looks up at him with raised eyebrows.

“Yeah, actually I was.”

She snorts. “You don’t know?”

He hesitates in answering. If the answer is that everyone knows his secret, he wants to curl up and die, but if it's anything else, he’d like to think he doesn’t know what she means.

“It’s because you’re hot, Jason.” 

Wow. That was the last thing on his mind.

“Really?” he asks, genuinely shocked his appearance would garner so much attention.

She nods. “I mean when Thalia Grace’s fabled brother appears out of nowhere looking like a Greek god, people tend to talk.”

Jason can’t help but laugh at that. “Am I really that much of a myth?”

Hazel shrugs. “Thalia was sort of a legend around here. I never knew her but friends of mine did, and you were always a piece of the lore.” she tells him. “But I don’t know, you seem pretty average to me.”

“Thank you?”  
She laughs again. “You’re welcome.” 

Jason smiles. He enjoys Hazel. She’s got a very calming energy about her that he didn’t really expect to come into contact with in public school. He wants to continue talking with her, but that idea is dashed as soon as Mr. D unhappily stands up from his desk and begins class. As it’s a couple of weeks into the semester he doesn’t say anything really of importance, but he manages to drone on for the entirety of their ten minute homeroom period, pausing only to toss an old metal lock onto Jason's desk. At the end of class, the bell rings and it honestly scares the crap out of Jason. His old school didn’t have bells.

Hazel looks at him funnily, as she pulls her bag over her shoulder. “It’s just a bell, it won’t hurt you.”

 He rolls his eyes at her, as he pulls his own backpack over his shoulders. “I know that.”

“What’s your next class?” she asks, gently taking the schedule from his hands. She scans it quickly. “A.P Calculus. That’s a senior class. Are you a senior?”

“No no, I’m a junior.” he tells her, following her out into the hallway.

“You’re smart.” she grins, handing him back his schedule. “That’s good. You can help me with math in homeroom.”

Jason chuckles at that. “I’d love to."

And with that, she offers him a salute and turns on her heels to her next class. Jason does the same. He heads up onto the third floor, which he can immediately tell is where the seniors classes are. All the people up here look older than him, and thankfully they do a lot less staring. He finds his class easy enough, and ends up being one of the first people there. Unsure if there are assigned seats, he chances his luck and takes a seat directly in the front row. 

There is already a problem on the board, and he feels almost giddy as he pulls his notebook out and sets on his desk. He likes math a lot. It makes sense to him, and it’s something he could potentially get lost in for hours. He pulls his glasses out of his backpack and shoves them on before recording the problem on the first line. He takes his time starting to decipher the answer. People pour in around him and he sees them pulling out their own notebooks and trying their hand at the problem, but that doesn’t deter him from his own work. It’s about five minutes later when his brows pull down in confusion. The answer doesn’t add up. He reviews the problem, analyzing each part, before noticing that the way the problem had been set up on the board didn’t make any sense. There is no way to solve it.

He glances around and it seems like everyone is finding an answer, or content with having an incorrect answer and staying in their seats. He’s about to raise his hand to ask the teacher, but he’s cut off by the girl beside him stomping up to him and tossing her notebook onto his desk.

“When are we going to stop doing trick problems?” she asks, just above a whisper, but being so close, Jason can here every word.

The teacher sighs, as if this is a normal occurrence.

“I’m not tricking you, Annabeth. I assure you there is a correct answer for you to find.” 

“No there isn’t!” she argues. “I could sit here doing it all day and there wouldn’t be a correct answer because you probably wrote the problem wrong.” 

Jason cannot believe the way she is able to talk to the teacher, without fear of consequence, but he also admires it. She must be smart, because she knows the problem is wrong and she isn’t afraid to say it.

And before he can help himself, Jason is clearing his throat, and raising his hand a little half heartedly into the air. Both heads whip towards him. “I’m also pretty sure you wrote the problem wrong.”

The teacher looks a little surprised, apparently that someone other than Annabeth would contest him, but Jason is too in it now to retreat.

“See?” she says, waving over towards Jason. “This guy thinks so too.”

Jason stands up from his desk, and drops his notebook on top of Annabeth’s.

“You can’t divide by the coefficient, it’s impossible.” Jason says, pointing to that section of the problem. “That’s why the end of the problem won’t work out.”

Their teacher leans back in his chair and lets out a low whistle. “You are correct. My apologies.” he says, and Annabeth gives a triumphant smile. “Class it appears Ms. Chase, and Mr. -”

“Grace.” Jason is not oblivious to the way Annabeth's head whips to look at him when he says that. 

“Ms. Chase and Mr. Grace have pointed out a flaw in my problem. Ignore the intro question, and we’ll get into the lesson soon enough.”

Jason glances out at the rest of the students who look like they could care less.

Jason heads back to his seat, and he knows Annabeth is still staring at him. He steals a glance over at her, but her gaze doesn't waver.  
“Thanks.” is what she says to break the silence. “He never listens to me. And although I’m annoyed it just took hearing it from a guy for him to get it through his brain, I’m glad someone else here has their head on straight.”

Jason laughs a little. “Yeah. Someone has to care about math, right?”

She doesn't respond. She doesn’t even really crack a smile before she’s saying,

“You’re Thalia’s brother.”

Jason guesses that’s going to be a common theme in his interactions with the students here.

He nods. “Yeah.”

Annabeth’s face finally breaks down a little, and she lets a small smile plays on her lips. “I love Thalia.” she tells him. “One of the best people I know.”

He smiles at that. “Me too.”

“Is this your first day?” she asks, looking back up at the board to see the new problem written up there.

“Is it that obvious I’m out of my depth?”

“Yes.” she says, bluntly. He can see why Thalia and her were friends. Neither of them beat around the bush. “But I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

“Hopefully.”

She looks up at him again, and squints. “You’re nothing like Thalia, are you?”

“Not really.” He admits. He’d always wished he could be more like Thalia, so unapologetically herself, but for some reason he just couldn’t.

“That’s not a bad thing.” she says, stating it as more of a fact than anything else. “You seem to like school a lot more than she does, which was always a point of contention between me and her, so that’s good.”

Before Jason can respond,  she diverts her attention from Jason and her classwork to pull her phone out quickly type something out.

“Ms. Chase, you know the rule about phones.”

“I’m listening.” she insists. “I know how to do this already.”

“That’s not the point Annabeth.”

 She types furiously, before flipping her phone over and looking back up at him. “Done. Continue.”

The teacher reluctantly continues the lesson, and Jason jots down the formulas into his notebook. Annabeth’s phone buzzes, and continues to buzz while they both work. She flips it over and types another message, and the buzzing continues.

“Stupid group chat.” She mumbles, ignoring her phone. “Can’t say one thing without them having a fit.”

They make it through class with only a couple more arguments between Annabeth and the teacher, and overall, Jason decides this public school thing might not be so bad. Annabeth says goodbye as she heads out of the room, and Jason knows he spoke to soon about school not being that bad when he spots the next class on his list. 

Theatre appreciation.

*

 _I win._ Is what Annabeth texts in the groupchat. _I found him first._

The replies come flooding in instantly.

**Percy**

_Fuck off, I was looking everywhere_

**Nico**

_Where??? I saw absolutely no new punks anywhere._

**Reyna**

_Are you kidding me_

**Piper**

_Frank, you owe me $20_

**Percy**

_What’s he like?_

**Annabeth**

_Nothing like Thalia_ _. At all. He’s big and blonde and quiet._

**A** **nnabeth**

_AND he likes math._

**Percy**

_Now that’s just fucked up_

**Nico**

_So I was wading around the punks for nothing?_

**Piper**

_Nico you’re always looking for an excuse to wade in punks_

**Nico**

_Take that back right now Piper._

**Frank**

_Wait what’s happening. Do I have to scroll through all the messages to figure it out cause I don’t really wanna_

**Piper**

_Dude you really need to check your phone more._  

**Frank**

_I’m in class???_

**Reyna**

_We’re all in class Frank jfc_

**Annabeth**

_We’ll talk more at lunch. I’m getting yelled at and we have to fill Grover in anyway._

**Piper**

_He really needs to get literally any cell phone other than his stupid Nokia._  

**Percy**

_Agreed_

* 

Jason isn’t really sure how he survives three separate games of “pass the energy” in his theatre class, but he does, and before he knows it, it’s lunch time.

He shoves his backpack into his locker and pulls out the paper bag on the top shelf. He kind of made this meal this morning in the dark, so hopefully it’s something edible. He heads into the lunchroom, and scans it for a second, looking to see if either Hazel or Annabeth, or even the weird kids from his theatre class were there yet, but alas he finds no one. So, he takes it upon himself to plop down at the nearest empty table to eat his lunch. He pulls out his phone and wipes over the cracked screen with his sleeve before responding to Thalia’s text.

 **Thalia**  

_How’s it going? Please tell me you love it._

**Jason**

_It’s going okay._ _You neglected to tell me this school is basically a place of worship where the deity they’re devoted to is you._  

The read receipt appears instantly, and Jason can just imagine that sharp laughter his text will elicit from her.

**Thalia**

_What can I say?_ _I’m badass and everyone loves me._  

Jason chuckles.

**Jason**

_Evidently so. I also met your friend Annabeth. She’s in my math class._

**Thalia**

_Annabeth is the fucking best. Her and Percy are my favorites._

**Jason**

_Who’s Percy?_

**Thalia**  

_You’ll probably figure out soon enough. He manages to be insufferably popular despite the fact he’s a dumbass._

Before Jason can press further into who this Percy is, someone sits down right in front of him. He looks up, and is pleasantly surprised to see Hazel.

“How’s the first day going, Jason?” she asks, and Jason smiles.

“Okay!” He answers honestly. “I like most of my classes, but I did somehow get signed up for Theatre Appreciation.”

Hazel laughs brightly. “Oh no, please tell me all about it.”

He gives an in depth description of the freeze scenes he had to take part in, as well as the trust falls, and Hazel can barely take a drink without spitting some of it up from laughing.

“Oh that makes me so happy.” she says, still laughing a little. 

“I’m glad my embarrassment amuses you.”

“It really fuels my soul.”

Jason rolls his eyes, but gives a laugh as well.

“Do you know what the best part about the fact that you’re in Theatre Appreciation is?”

“What?”

“The final for that class is acting in the Fall play.”

Jason’s mouth drops open a little, and Hazel laughs more.

“Don’t get me wrong it’s so fun, I do costuming, and my brother usually does tech, it’s just funny that you, Jason Grace, are going to be a part of it.”

Jason’s never liked the idea of being up in front of a bunch of people, and now he’s going to have to do it in probably a ridiculous set of tights or something. At least he’ll have Hazel to offer moral support— if she ever stops laughing about it.

“Hazel, why are we sitting over here?” a voice comes, as a shorter guy with dark curly hair sets a tray on the table and sits down right beside Hazel, before directing his attention to Jason. “With knockoff Johnny Bravo?”

Hazel rolls her eyes. “Leo, this is Jason.”

Leo, looks up at Jason with a mouthful of food, as if he could care less. “Okay? That doesn’t really answer my question, Haze.”

“Jason Grace.” She says, and that catches Leo’s attention.

“No shit?”

“No shit.”

Leo’s demeanor shifts to one more relaxed. He offers out a hand to Jason, and Jason takes it.

“Nice to meet you dude. Don’t know your sister but I heard she’s dope.”

“Thanks man. Nice to meet you too.”

Jason can’t help the fact that he really enjoys that Leo and Hazel don’t really know his sister. He kind of wants to make his own friends and his own name for himself here.

“Makes sense why we ditched out on your brother’s cool friends now.” Leo says to Hazel, shoveling more food into his mouth. “Sitting with a Grace is probably just as cool.”

“We’re not eating with Jason to be cool, we’re eating with Jason because he’s nice and it’s his first day.” Hazel says, pointedly.

 Leo shrugs. “Can we go back to sitting with your brother’s friends tomorrow?”

Hazel gives him the stink eye before focusing back on her own lunch.

“What? Are you telling me you don’t want to sit with Frank again?”

Jason can see Hazel’s demeanor switch. She becomes almost bashful, curling into herself a bit. “What does Frank have to do with anything?”

“I don’t know, you tell me.”

Hazel looks like she’s about to smack Leo, so Jason buts in with a “Who’s Frank?”

A cheesy grin spreads across Leo’s face. “Frank is a junior.” He says smugly. “He plays football and hangs out with Hazel’s brother, and she thinks he’s  _very_ cute.”

Leo cranes his neck around behind them, “I think I can point him out to you…. Actually where are they? I can’t see- oh wait, I see Percy-“

That makes Jason’s ears perk up. “Percy?”

Leo turns back and gives him a funny look. “You don’t know Percy?”

“He’s only been here for like four hours, Leo.”

“I mean Jackson is kind of the most popular kid in school.” Leo points out. “Well as of now.”

 He motions over to Jason with his thumb. “Thor over here might give him a run for his money.”

“Me?” Jason asks, surprised.

“Tall, buff- smart, I assume from the glasses.” Hazel rolls her eyes at that observation. “And you’ve got the fact you're Thalia Grace's brother on your side. You’re a shoe in.”

“Oh, I don’t-“

“Found them!”

Jason follows Leo’s finger, to a table completely across the cafeteria where nine confident looking teenagers are sitting, talking away. Jason immediately spots Annabeth, sitting shoulder to shoulder with a boy with dark tousled hair who Jason, by the way the guy carries himself and looks a little mischievous, deduces is Percy Jackson.

“I’ve just decided this is the perfect opportunity to do a Mean Girls style introduction of all your brother’s friends for Jason.”

“What does that even mean?” Jason asks.

“Leo your obsession with them is weird.”

“I’m not _obsessed._ ” Leo argues. “I just think they’re cool and, we’re already close to being friends with them despite being younger, so we should inform Jason on details because we’re gonna bring him along with us on this quest for friendship."

It’s in this moment that Jason decides it's probably best to kind of go with the flow on Leo’s antics rather than try and fight them. It’s more fun this way.

Leo cleats his throat and points over at the guy Jason is 99.9% sure is

“Percy Jackson.” Leo says, with a grin. “The queen bee and the biggest slut in the school.”

“Leo-“ 

Leo bursts out laughing. “Okay okay joking. I wanted a Mean Girls moment, and now I’m good.”

Hazel frowns at him, and Jason can’t help but stifle a laugh, to which Leo grins.

“Hey! Schwarzenegger thinks I’m funny!” he says, absolutely elated.

“I’m glad you’ve finally found your audience.”

“But seriously back to Percy Jackson. He’s a senior, and captain of the swim team, and has all the authority to be a jerk but he’s nice. Like I heard the dude works with like underprivileged kids and sick animals or something, I don’t really know, point is- everyone is up his ass.”

“Including Leo.”

“Yes, including me.” Leo says, proudly. “If I was into dudes, first thing I’d do is get on my knees for Jackson.”

Jason laughs again at his blunt nature, and he’s also secretly relieved at the fact is seems like Leo is comfortable with people of differing sexualities. At his old school, Jason never would have dared to mention the fact he was bisexual out loud, but here seems safer. More welcoming, which is great.

 “As if he would ever let you near his dick.”

 “Moving on!” Leo says, ignoring Hazel. “Percy’s best friend is Annabeth Chase.”

 “Grover is his best friend!” Hazel argues. “Annabeth is his- well I don’t even really know.”

“Fair point. His best friend is Grover, little hippie guy down on the end, and he and Percy have been best friends forever. Grover loves weed and the environment and he plays the flute.” 

“He’s really good.” 

“Back to Annabeth. She’s Percy’s- very close friend. We’re all pretty sure they’re fucking but it’s hard to tell with her. She’s freaky smart, like builds entire buildings in her mind smart. And she looks and acts really mean, but she’s actually a softie. Especially when it comes to Jackson.” 

Jason nods, and takes some mental notes, as if there’s going to be a test on this information.

“Who do we do next?” Leo asks. Hazel turns her head and glances at the table. 

She sets down her drink and turns her attention back to Jason. “Okay, next to Annabeth, see the pretty girl with the brown hair?”

Does Jason ever. He noticed her the second they pointed out the table. And Jesus Christ is she attractive. Jason doesn’t even know what it is that makes her so pretty, but he can’t stop staring at her.

“That’s Piper.” Hazel says. “She’s a junior, but seems to only hang out with seniors. She’s obviously like crazy gorgeous, but she also is super into social justice. She’s actually a vegetarian, and she’s in the feminist club with me so we talk sometimes.”

“AND her dad is Tristan Mclean.”  
“The movie star??”

They nod.

 “Next is Reyna, right next to her.” Hazel says, moving right along, “She’s like my brother’s best friend. She’s a senior like the others and she plays like a million sports. She’s a lot like Annabeth but more intimidating, and Leo has the hots for her because he knows she speaks fluent Spanish.”

“And I’m so valid for that.” Leo says. “But it’ll never happen. I’ve come to terms with the fact I’m far too annoying for her.”

“Sad but true.” Hazel says, tossing her arm around Leo, and pulling him in close. He smiles up at her, and it makes Jason smile how even though they tease each other, he can see how much they care.

“Wait you keep mentioning your brother-” Jason says, remembering. “Which one is he?”

“He’s-”

 “Nico Di Angelo!” Leo booms, wiggling out from under Hazel’s arm. “The Ghost King.”

“Oh I’m already intrigued.”

“Only his skater friends call him that, and he regrets picking that nickname to this day!” Hazel points out.

“I mean it’s kind of a sick nickname.” Jason says.

“He’s not nearly cool enough for it.” Leo tells him.

“Okay the thing with my brother, he tries really hard to be emo and goth, but really he’s just introverted and sleep deprived. He also hangs out with Percy and the others _way_ too much to go goth. All he’s got going for him is the black clothes and the black hair but even that-“ 

She keeps talking, but Jason doesn’t really hear as he zeroes in on which one is Nico. As Hazel described he’s got black clothes and black hair, but she neglected to mention the hair tied up in a bun, and the little gold hoop earrings, and the fact he’s got a pride flag patch on the arm of his jacket that Jason immediately noticed. She also neglected to say that her brother is kind of _hot._

“Anyways, he’s my half brother but we grew up together and are really close so we’re pretty much full siblings.”

 Jason manages to catch the tail end of Hazel’s comments and nods, dragging his eyes back to her.

 “Oh nice, yeah cool.”

 Thankfully she doesn’t notice any gawking, before Leo has moved on to describe the last couple of people at the table.

 “Frank is Hazel's guy, he’s over there on the end-“

 “He’s not my guy.” she insists. “We have study hall together and we’re friends. That’s it.”

“Okay whatever Haze.” Leo says, with a roll of his eyes. “And lastly, Will Solace is the guy on the end with the blonde curly hair. He’s the only one out of the skater crowd that was actually tolerable, so Nico saved him and brought him to hang with the others. He’s pretty cool.”  
“That’s a lot of stuff to remember.” Jason says.

“But it’s all important.”

“Why?” Hazel asks.

Leo looks at Hazel in disbelief, as if she really did know, and was pretending not to, so Leo would look bad. 

“Because we’re going to infiltrate their friend group, and we’re bringing Jason Grace with us.”


	2. Do you want to beat his ass or sleep with him I can't tell

Okay, Leo definitely let the Mean Girls fantasy get to his head, because the entirety of his plan to “infiltrate” the friend group literally consisted of him, Hazel, and Jason just actually becoming their friends.

“That’s not really a scheme, Leo. That’s literally just us interacting with them like normal people.”

“What can I say? I’m a fan of the dramatics.”

And he certainly is. Leo is larger than life in everything he does, and Jason thinks that works well to balance out the introverted nature he and Hazel have.

“Oh I know.”

They continue talking through lunch, and Jason is happy to find that he and Leo have class together after lunch, as well as for their last class of the day. He has no more classes with Hazel, but that makes sense because she’s in the grade below them. It’s not long until the bell rings, and by this time, Jason only jumps a little when he hears it.

Jason starts to get up, but Hazel catches him with her words.  
“Hey Jason-” she says, “Leo and I are having a movie night tonight if you wanted to come.”

“Yeah dude, it’s going to be sick. We’re binging superhero movies because I think they’re great, and Hazel is still on the fence about them.”

“You’re binging them on a Monday night?”

“Yeah. Well starting to at least, this could take weeks.” he says, “Anyways, what else would we be doing?”

“Homework?”

Leo snorts. “It if bothers you that much, you can bring your homework.” he tells him.

Jason rolls his eyes, but in the back of his mind he foresees himself tugging along his backpack and working on homework during the movie.

“Maybe I will.” Jason chuckles. “I’d love to come.”

Hazel and Leo smile at him.

“Give me your phone.” Hazel insists, and Jason hands it over without hesitation. He also tells her his passcode without hesitation. Her nails tap at the screen, and about a minute later she hands it back to him.

“I put mine and Leo’s phone number, and started a text.” she tells him. “welcome to your very first Goode High groupchat.”

*

And although Jason liked being a part of the groupchat with his new friends, he really didn’t expect the messages to start right as him and Leo enter their history class.

**Hazel**

_What movies are we watching tonight? My vote is Spiderman_

**Leo**

_Hazel we’ve already watched Spiderman! Literally the point of this is to watch the movies you haven’t seen._

**Hazel**

_But I feel like the ones I haven’t seen r the bad ones_

**Leo**

_They’re not bad! You’ll see._

“Jason what’s your input on the situation?” Leo asks, looking up from his phone.

“What situation?”

“Have you been checking the groupchat?”

“Of course not, class is about to start.”  
“Oh come on, half the people aren’t even here yet.” Leo insists. “Dylan isn’t here, Drew isn’t here, Chris isn’t here, Piper isn’t- oh man I forgot Piper is in this class.”

Piper? They have history with Piper? Jason isn’t prepared for this. He tends to get really tongue tied around people he thinks are pretty, so Jason is hopeful that Leo can hold off on the friend group infiltrating until after Jason can figure out how to hold a conversation with a girl like her.

“How do you just forget you have class with someone? You’ve already been in school for a month.”

“In case you haven’t noticed, my mind is all over the place. All the time.”

“Yeah, that’s fair.” 

**Leo**

_What if we watch all the underdog movies like Guardians of the Galaxy, Doctor Strange, and Ant-Man_

**Hazel**

_Frank says Doctor Strange is the worst movie_  

**Leo**

_Tell Frank to meet me behind the school at 3:15 I just wanna talk_

**Hazel**

_I’m not gonna tell him that_

**Hazel**

_And do you really want to take on Frank. He’s big._

**Leo**

_I have Jason for backup_

**Hazel**

_Where is Jason?_

Leo looks up from his phone to realize that the majority of the class has filed in, and that Jason beside him is fixated on Piper Mclean talking to their teacher at the front desk. Leo smirks, knowingly, and pats Jason on the back.

“You like Piper.” he says, and Jason’s eyes widen.

“Well I don’t- I can’t liker her, I don’t even know her.”

Leo shrugs, and taps out a message to Hazel.

**Leo**

_Drooling over Piper._

Jason’s phone buzzes as Leo sends the message, and that finally breaks his gaze from Piper for him to turn over his phone.

“Leo, why are there so many messages?”

“There wouldn’t be if you opened your phone more.”

“I can’t be on my phone in class.”  
“Don’t you want to be a part of the conversation?”

“Well yeah.”  
“Guess I’ll just have to relay everything we talk about.” Leo says, cracking his knuckles. “Your first update is that you and I are fighting Frank Zhang after school.”  
“ _What?”_

“I’m kidding, calm down.”

The bell rings, signaling the beginning of class, and Piper McLean takes the seat directly in front of Leo. She flips her hair over her shoulder, and Jason is met with a waft of something sweet, like vanilla. He may not be ready to talk to Piper McLean yet, but he’s very content with sitting and staring at the back of her head.

He tunes into the lesson which is about World War 2, and flips his notebook open to a blank page. Just as he starts taking notes, Leo elbows him.

“Hazel wants to know if you like chocolate or fruity candy.” Leo whispers. Despite his efforts, Leo is an incredibly loud whisperer.

“Chocolate.” Jason mumbles back, not looking up from his notes.

It’s about two minutes later when he’s interrupted again.

“Would you eat popcorn if Hazel made popcorn?”  
“Yes.”

And it’s at that point Jason realizes this is going to go on the whole class. Thankfully he’s good at working with distractions, so Leo’s chatter doesn’t really affect him, but he can tell it’s getting on the nerves of the people around them.

“Are you going to have dinner first?”

In front of them, Piper lets out a sigh, before turning around in her chair.

“I know it’s a foreign concept, Leo, but some people are actually trying to listen.”

Leo chuckles. “Sorry. Doesn’t compute. I don’t get what you and this guy get from all this listening business.”

He says, motioning over to Jason. That’s when she glances over at him.

“Hi.” Jason blurts out, because he’s an idiot.

“Hi.” she says back with a smile. “Think you can keep a muzzle on Valdez? I think it would benefit you and me both.”

“I’m not sure anything can keep him down, but I’ll try my best.” is what slips out of Jason’s mouth. He’s surprised it’s coherent.

Piper tugs her bottom lip between her teeth and smiles. “My hero.”

And then she’s turned back around, and Jason is left in a daze. Leo smacks him on the arm, and is giving Jason the same wide eyed look he’s sure he has on right now.

“Since when are you smooth?” he asks, and somehow he manages a true whisper.

Jason shrugs, and he gets this giddy little smile on his face.

“Jason Grace, you dog.”

*

And just like that, Jason has survived his first day at Goode High. It actually went much better than he ever imagined. He made good friends right away, and liked virtually every one of his classes. It’s going almost too good to be true. At the end of the day, he finally opens up his group chat with Hazel and Leo to reveal many many missed messages. He chuckles going through them, and thankfully buried within the squabbles and jokes, he finds Hazel’s address and the time he should come over. They’re not meeting till around dinner time, so Jason hops in his car and drives home. His mom is still at work when arrives, so he fixes himself a snack and heads to his room.

When he sits down at his desk to do homework, he feels... Odd. Jason hasn’t done homework at this desk in years on account of being off at boarding school, so he almost feels nostalgic tugging his backpack up beside him and opening it. Everything seems a little smaller, a little more juvenile than Jason remembered, but he likes it all the same. As he’s entering in week four of the semester, he’s more than a little bit behind, but Jason knows if anyone is capable of catching up it's him. He pulls out his planner and schedules out when he’ll work on each assignment to get it done. Because it’s his first day, he gives himself a little leeway. Some readings for history before he goes to Hazel’s, and he’s bringing his math to work on during the movie because it’s the easiest for him.

He finishes his readings and notes soon enough, spends the remainder of his time playing video games before it’s time to go to Hazel’s.

*

Hazel’s house is much bigger than Jason expected it to be. His automatic assumption isn’t that people are super well off, as his family never was, so this was an even bigger surprise for him. Hazel did mention something about her father being gone a lot on business, so his job must be something important enough to make this happen. He’s a little intimidated stepping up and knocking at the door, but the second he sees Hazel sliding in her socks to the door frame he can’t help the smile on his face.

“Welcome.” Hazel says, as she pulls open the door and pulls Jason inside.

He kicks his shoes off at the front door, and Hazel leads him to the living room where Leo is situated on the couch in front of the largest spread of movies and refreshments Jason had ever seen.

“What’s up Thor?” Leo says, shoving a handful of popcorn into his mouth. “Sorry we’re not watching your movies tonight.”

“I think he’s more of a Captain America.” Hazel says. “Like personality wise too.”

“Actually I agree.” Leo says. “Because that makes me Iron Man.”

“That’s pretty accurate.” Jason agrees, as he pulls his backpack a little higher on his shoulders joins Leo on the couch.

“Did you bring your math?”

“Maybe.”

Hazel laughs. “You can do math as much as you want Jason. We’re starting with Guardians of the Galaxy.”

*

It's around 11:45 when they've watched Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant Man, and the excitement of the movies has definitely worn off. At that point, they’re semi deep in Doctor Strange and neither Hazel nor Jason wants to continue, but despite their protests, Leo does not let up.

Hazel slumps onto Jason’s shoulder and wraps her arms around his, barely blinking the sleep out of her eyes. Jason’s homework has long since been abandoned and is strewn across the table along with his glasses. As Leo gets up to go to the bathroom, Jason mumbles to Hazel about how now is the perfect opportunity to turn the movie off.

“He wouldn’t mind, right?”

Hazel sighs. “I think both you and I know he would definitely mind.”

And that’s when they hear the front door open.

“Haze, I’m home.”

And Jason tenses a little, because he’s sure he knows who that high raspy voice belongs to.

“We’re in the living room.” Hazel calls back.

“Is Leo with you?” Nico asks, “Honestly Leo, you’re here so much you should probably just move into the guest bedroom-“

He cuts himself off as he walks into the living room, and his eyes zero in on Jason.

“You’re not Leo.” He says, and his voice is particularly accusatory. He glances from Jason., to Hazel snuggled up at his side, before resuming a death stare on Jason. This Nico isn’t like the Nico he saw at school today. This Nico isn’t smiling or laughing, and he’s not wearing his jacket with the pride flag patch. He’s looking at Jason likes he wants him dead and Jason all but loses the ability to speak. Hazel seems to catch on to the tension in the room and sits up from Jason.

“Relax, Nico.” She says, sleepily. “This is just Jason.”

He stares blankly.

It’s at that moment when Leo emerges from the bathroom, his fly half done up.

“Ay Ghost King, my man.” Leo grins, holding out a hand to Nico. There’s a crack in Nico’s demeanor, as he pulls a hand out of his pocket, and completes a rather elaborate handshake with Leo.

“Told you not to call me that.” Nico says with a little smile on his face.

“Well you reject all my other nicknames, so I opted for the one you gave yourself.” Leo says with a shrug. “But it’s okay, I got Grace now, and you wouldn’t believe the endless opportunities I have with him.”

Nico spares him another glance. “Thalia’s brother” is all he says. Classic.

“He’s more than just Thalia’s brother,” Hazel says, sounding rather annoyed. “Jason is his own person.”

God he loves Hazel.

Nico’s face softens at his sister. He clears his throat and turns back to Jason.

“My apologies, Jason.” He says, but his tone doesn’t hold too much genuine remorse.

“Don’t worry about it.” Jason says, and he really doesn’t want him to. Jason actually hopes Nico contracts amnesia and forgets this entire uncomfortable experience.

“Well. I’m going to bed. And you should already be asleep.” He says to Hazel. He then steps fully into the room, and walks over to press a kiss to Hazel’s head. “Good night.”

“Night.” She smiles.

“Good night Ghost King.” Leo calls, and Nico rolls his eyes.

“Good night Leo.” and nothing surprises Jason more than when Nico turns to look him right in the eye. “Good night Jason.”

*

The second Nico steals up to his room, he whips his phone out and furiously types out a text to the group. Well first he changes the group name to “fucking idiots” and _then_ he sends the text. 

**Nico**

_Can anyone tell me why I came home to find my little sister cuddled up on my couch with Jason Grace?_

**_Reyna_ **

_Holy shit WHAT_

**Annabeth**

_Please do not tell me you beat poor Jason’s ass. I sat next to him for an hour and I can tell he’s very fragile._

**Piper**

_I heard him and Valdez talking about it in class. There were absolutely no bad intentions, Nico. If you beat his ass I’m going to be mad._

**Nico**

_I didn’t beat anyone’s ass!!!_

**Nico**

_You all who ran into him also neglected to mention he’s hulking and chiseled, so I doubt I could’ve taken him anyway._

**Reyna**

_Do you want to beat his ass or sleep with him I can’t tell_

Nico rolls his eyes.

**Nico**

_Beat his ass obvs_

**Nico**

_I just also have eyes._

**Percy**

_That’s wack dude. Btw sorry Frank._

**Nico**

_Y r u apologizing to Frank_

**Percy**

_………_

**Will**

_Since when are Hazel and Leo hanging out with Grace? Like how did they get in before we got in?_

**Will**

_And who named the chat fuckin idiots_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Valentines Day everyone!  
> Thank you all for the positive reviews on my first chapter, I hope you like this one as well!!  
> It's a bit shorter, but I'm still trying to set up all the relationships/dynamics before really getting into stuff.  
> I think hopefully Jason will get introduced to the whole crew in the next chapter  
> Thank you all for reading and I hope to updates again soon :)


	3. Plan Dine Another Day is a go

For the entire ride home that night, Jason cannot get that interaction with Nico out of his head. Nico doesn’t like him. He doesn’t know him- but he doesn’t like him. Jason was always one of those people that everyone tended to like. He was smart, he was nice, and he tried pretty hard to never step on anyone’s toes, so to have someone so blatantly dislike him really really rattles him. At his old school, after everything went down, there were hordes of people who didn’t like him, but he ignored that because he knew he was in the right, but this situation is -- different. He’s going to have to see Nico everyday at school, and when he goes to Hazel’s house, and he really hopes that he can figure out a way to resolve this. When he gets home, and checks his phone, he notices some texts from Hazel. She must’ve been able to sense what Jason was feeling, because he can see her trying to wash away his stress over the situation. 

**Hazel**

_I’m sorry about Nico, and I want you to know that was nothing personal. He’s overprotective of me, so whenever a boy comes within thirty feet of me, he_ _automatically makes judgments even when he knows nothing about what’s going on._

**Hazel**

_I promise he was like that with Leo when we first started hanging out, and you can imagine how stupid he felt when he actually got to know Leo. He’s a good guy, but his default setting is dislike, and you have to work him up from there._

**Hazel**

_Sorry again and I hope you have a good night :)_

It’s then that Jason decides Hazel is much too nice for her own good. Her texts do a lot to lessen the knot in his stomach as he relaxes back onto his bed and answers her.

**Jason**

_You don’t have to apologize! I totally get it, I can be like that too when it has to do with people I care about. Hopefully we can meet again at a better time -- less Doctor Strange, less Leo with unzipped pants, you know?_

**Hazel**

_Definitely. How about lunch tomorrow?_

Well at this moment Jason is pretty much at rock bottom with Nico, so what does he have to lose?

**Jason**

_Sounds perfect._

_*_

“Be honest. Do I look stupid?”

“Jason did you really FaceTime me to look at your outfit?” Thalia asks, sounding tired as Jason had definitely woken her up. “Why do you never call me just to talk?”

He huffs, adjusting the camera once again for the view of his outfit in the mirror. “Can you just answer the question.”

“No- you don’t look stupid.” She says. “You do however, look like a nerd.”

Jason groans. “Knew it.”

He sighs looking down at his button down tucked into khaki pants. He looks like a dad.

“I’ve forgotten how to dress myself.” He says flatly. “Years of a boarding school sapped my entire fashion sense.”

“What fashion sense?”

“Shut up.”

“What’s the big deal, bro?” she asks, running a hand through her short hair. “First impressions were yesterday. Nobody cares anymore.”

“Well it’s your friends I’m trying to look okay for so if you could help me that'd be great.”

“My friends?”

“Hazel is introducing me to Percy and Annabeth and Nico…” his voice trails off and Thalia grins.

“Okay relax. Take that shit off, and just be casual Jason. It’s not that deep.”

After about five minutes of changing, Jason stumbles back into frame in jeans and a flannel shirt.

“It screams farmer.” Thalia says, obviously a little over the situation. “I like it though.”

“Really?”

She nods. “Just put a jacket over it or something.”

“Thank you.” He says, shuffling around and tugging his black jacket on, before picking up his phone again. “I love you.”

“Love you too. Call me soon.”

*

“I like the outfit.” Hazel says, as Jason takes the seat beside her.  

“Not stupid?” He asks. When did he get so self conscious about his appearance?

She shakes her head. “Not stupid.” she assures him. “Looks like you like camping though.”

“I do like camping.”

“Well there you go.”

As promised, Hazel produces some math worksheets, and Jason and her shove their desks together, spending their ten minutes together working her through some of her math homework. Following that class, Jason's own math is pretty uneventful. Annabeth and him exchange a couple of words, mostly born out of Annabeth’s frustration towards their teacher and Jason doesn’t mind it. It’s when he gets to Theatre Appreciation that things heat up.

“So,” his teacher says, stepping into the center of the circle. Oh yeah, they have to sit in a circle on the floor during class. “I know many of you have heard that for this class, it is a requirement to act in the Fall play.”

Around the room, people are nodding.

“Although auditions are not for a couple of weeks, I wanted to formally introduce the show we will be putting on, and how our classwork will center around this show.”

A few weeks seems pretty quick to Jason. Then again, he did miss the first four weeks of school so that makes a little bit more sense. But overall, he’s still not confident about acting in this play. Maybe he can ask if he could build sets or do costumes with Hazel or-

“We’re doing Romeo and Juliet.”

Chatter breaks out over the room, most people are excited, and Jason.. well he really has no opinion. He likes Shakespeare. He finds it interesting enough to read. Like the guy invented a whole bunch of words and was married to someone named Anne Hathaway who was probably pretty like actual Anne Hathaway, but that doesn’t change the fact that Jason is wholly uncomfortable with acting on a stage in front of people. And more that that, even if he was comfortable, he knows for a fact he’s bad. So when the teacher starts dropping scripts in front of everyone in the circle, he prays to god she gives him the smallest part to read.

“Okay we’re just going to read through a couple scenes to get a feel before auditions. So we can know exactly how to appreciate this piece of work.” His teacher says with a smile. “I want Connor and Travis for Gregory and Sampson, Austin as Mercutio… how about Jake as Benvolio, and how about we have Jason read for Romeo.”

Jason can feel his face start heat up as he reluctantly flips open the script knowing he’s going to make a fool out of himself.

*

Okay, after reading through the first scene, Jason has determined the pros far outweigh the cons in that last situation. Yes, he sucked, but so did a lot of other people. Everyone struggled with the Shakespearean language, and trying to make things sound good, so he didn’t feel alone. He also felt that he was actually better than he imagined he’d be. The best news of all though, is that he’s 100% sure he’s knocked himself off the docket for any leading role which puts his mind at ease. Jason is much more comfortable behind the scenes or even just being himself in front of a group of people rather than trying (and failing) to pretend to be something he’s not.

*

**Leo**

_Are we still a go for plan infiltrate the cool kids table today?_

**Hazel**

_Not a plan, we’re just going to sit there._  

**Hazel**

_Also if it were a plan, that would be a terrible plan name._

**Leo**

_Jason wouldn’t shit on my plan name._

**Hazel**

_Well Jason is good and doesn’t check his phone in class so you’re stuck with me._

**Leo**

_Sucks for me_

**Hazel**

_You should’ve called it plan dine another day. A little James Bond action._

**Leo**

_I take it back. I love you._

**Hazel**

_That’s what I thought._  

**Leo**

_Are we meeting beforehand? I think this works better as a collective move._  

**Hazel**

_I agree. Let’s meet by Jason’s locker, so we don’t run the risk of him never seeing the text and not knowing where to show up._

**Leo**

_Perf. Plan Dine Another Day is a go._

_*_

“I’m so glad you two are here.” Jason says, as he heads up to his locker, to find Leo and Hazel standing there with their lunches in tow. “I was afraid you were going to make me come and join the table all awkwardly.”

He chuckles a little as he starts to undo his lock.  
“We’d never do that, Cap.” Leo says, “If you’d check the group chat, you’d know we’re a team.”

“Sorry sorry.” Jason says, pulling his lunch out of the top of his locker. “I’ll try to become a worse student and check my phone in class.”

“That’s all we could ever ask for.”

The three of them linger in the hallway for a bit, so as not to beat the group to the table, and Jason happily informs them he will not be playing Romeo in the fall play.

“I think you’d be good as one of the mean dads.” Leo tells him. “Like not really doing much, looking menacing.”

“Do I look menacing?”

“If you take the glasses off, and like join football or something, yeah.” Leo informs him. “I wouldn’t want to take you in a fight.”

It’s at that moment Jason decides he’s never joining football, and he’s keeping his glasses on as much as possible. He doesn’t want to be associated with being intimidating and menacing.

“Leo you couldn’t even take me in a fight.”

“Well that’s cause you bite Hazel, and that's not fair.”

“And my nails.” she points out, tapping her acrylics together.

“Jesus. Those too.”

They dick around for probably a little too long, before Leo pops his head into the lunchroom and indeed confirms that the table is almost at capacity, with about four or so open spots on the end.

“It’s now or never, team.”

Jason shuts his locker and turns to his friends.  
“Let’s do it.”

The three of them head into the buzzing lunchroom, and Hazel leads them as they walk over to the table full of seniors and apparently the coolest kids in school. People start noticing them as they near, he can see Annabeth leaning over to Percy, to talk to him, and others are looking too. Hazel is completely unfazed, but Jason can see how both him and Leo feign confidence under the stares of their peers.

Hazel has no qualms about plopping herself down beside Frank Zhang, and greeting the rest of the table, before motioning Leo and Jason to sit as well. Leo moves to the open spot farthest away, leaving Jason the seat right beside Piper McLean. He’s not complaining, but still, he takes it and sits down, not interacting at all.

“Hazel! Leo!” a voice comes from the center of the table, they all glance over to see Percy with a big grin on his face. “We missed you yesterday! Glad you’re back,” and then he zeroes in on Jason. “with a new friend.”

“Hey everybody, this is Jason.” Hazel says, and Jason waves back at the nine new faces sitting at the table. “He just started here, and if any of you call him Thalia’s brother before actually talking to him, I will be unhappy.”

A chorus of greetings follow her request, and Jason smiles out at them. What surprises him the most is that Percy Jackson gets up out of his seat, and heads over to where Jason is to offer him a hand.

“Nice to meet you bro. I’m Percy. Promised not to talk about your sister, but if you’re half as cool as her, I think we’ll get along.”

Jason grins. “She said you’re one of her favorites, so I think we will too.”

Percy gives him a crooked grin. “Do you need introductions, or can everyone manage to introduce themselves?”

“I think we can handle a simple greeting, Percy.” Piper says, turning into the conversation. “Hi Jason. I’m Piper. We have history together.”

Jason nods, dumbly. “Oh yeah, course. I remember.”

“Leo talks a lot in class.” she says, simply.

Jason laughs. “He talks a lot all the time, but class is my fault. I refuse to look at our group chat in class so he tries to relay all the information for me.”

She rolls her eyes. “We have to do that with Frank too.” she says, motioning to the big guy across the table from him. He glances up from his conversation with Hazel.

“What?”

“You never check your phone. Neither does Jason.”

Frank offers a shrug, and seems a little less willing to talk to Jason than the others. “We’ve gotta get that learning.”

Piper snorts. “You can do both.”

“Our group chat is also super annoying.” Percy points out. “And yes, a lot of it is me, but you can’t have a group chat of over eight people without it getting annoying.”

“For some reason we all have to know exactly what’s going on with each other all the time.” Reyna says, learning over into their conversation. “Hi, I’m Reyna.”

“Jason. Nice to meet you.”

“Hey Reyna.” Leo says, poking his head in as well. “cómo estás?”

She makes a face. “Just bueno, Leo.”

And then four conversation restart up at once, and Jason can barely keep track.

“This table is like the group chat come to life.” Piper says, laughing a little. “Loud and hard to follow.”

Jason smiles at her. “I can see that.”

There’s a beat, but Jason wants to keep talking to her, so he goes with:

“Hazel told me you’re in the feminist club with her.”

Her eyes light up a little bit. “I am! You’re looking at the vice president.”

“Impressive.” he comments, “We’ve been needing a woman in office.”

“That’s what I’m saying!” she agrees with a laugh. “The lack of representation of women of color in our government is astounding.”

“You know I was just reading an article about Ocasio-Cortez the other day..” Jason begins, and from there the conversation between him and Piper just flows. His interest in world news and her politics and Piper's interest in social justice converges at the same point where they can talk about so many things.

“You know, you should come to feminist club.” she tells him, setting her hand on his arm. “We meet every Friday, and I think you would enjoy it.”

He has absolutely nothing planned for that day, so he immediately agrees.  
“I’ll be there. You just have to let me know what room it’s in before then.”

She bites down on her lip, and pulls her phone out. “I’ll text you. What’s your number?”

Jason can feel his stomach getting fluttery at the thought of a pretty girl asking him for his phone number. He rattles off the digits, and she types them in before sending a quick text. He’s only pulled out of his conversation with Piper when he hears Leo say,

  
“Nico, man, where’ve you been?”

Jason turns to his left to see Nico had taken the last spot at the table beside Hazel. At this point, he looks like a cross between Nico last night and Nico at lunch yesterday. He’s got a bit of a grimace on his face, but his outfit is about the same as it was yesterday.

“Had to retake a test.” he says, simply. “And I probably failed again, but it’s over now so I don’t care.”

“What test?”

“Algebra.”

“Jason’s really good at math.” Hazel says, and Nico glances over at him, with yet another dead eyed stare. “He could help you.”  
“That’s okay.” he says. “I don’t like to inconvenience.”  
“It wouldn’t be an inconvenience.” Jason answers, before he can help himself. “I love math.”

“It’s really fine.” Nico insists. “And I’ve got Annabeth if I get really desperate.”

Jason isn’t mad at how Nico instantly rebukes him, but it does make him more determined to get Nico to like him.  
“Anyways. I’m sick of school, we should have a party soon.”

And somehow that rears the rest of the group into one conversation.

“Oh it’s been way too long since we last partied.” Percy agrees. “We haven’t since like the summer.”  
“Nico and I had wine night, but that’s about as close as we got.” Reyna adds, and the table laughs.

“Dad is gone this weekend.” Hazel says slyly. Nico gives a little bit of a disapproving look. Jason can deduce that Hazel, and most likely Leo haven’t been invited to these parties in the past, probably on account of how protective Nico is over his sister.

“That would be so fun.” Piper gushes. “I love Percy’s as much as the next person, but if we trash the apartment again while Sally is trying to taking care of the baby, I’ll feel too guilty.”  
“Sally deserves more than that.” Grover chimes in.

“Please Nico?” Hazel asks, giving him puppy dog eyes. He grimaces.

“I guess we could on Saturday..” he says, and the majority of the table erupts into cheers and chatter. “But only the people at this table are invited. I don’t want any randos showing up and puking in my dad’s vases.”

“Of course.” Piper assures. “But I can’t promise that one of us won’t puke in your dad’s vase.”

Nico crumples up his napkin and throws it at her, making Piper gasp.  
“Mind if I borrow this?” she asks, reaching for Jason’s now empty capri sun.

“Go for it.”

She grabs it and tosses it, hitting Nico square in the face. Nico picks it back up and throws it once again, this time smacking Jason in the chest.

Jason looks up at him, and Nico smirks. “You were an accessory to the crime, Grace.” he tells Jason. “You chose the wrong side.”

Jason picks up his own napkin, and winds up ready to throw it at Nico, but at the last second, it’s plucked out of his hand.

“Now Mr. Grace, we wouldn’t want things to get out of hand...” Mr. D says, behind Jason. He pauses for a second, before finishing his sentence, “again.”

Jason’s blood runs cold, as Mr. D leaves the table. Thankfully no one seems to care about what Mr. D said to Jason, or the fact he continue to publicly hint at Jason’s experience at his old school, but it still makes Jason feel sick.

“Looks like you’re out of ammo.” Leo says, and Jason sighs.

“Do we forfeit?” he asks Piper. She huffs.

“I don’t want to give him the satisfaction.”

“You won’t have a choice.” Frank says, glancing at his phone. “Bells about to ring.”

“Oh now you check your phone.”

Nico stands up from the table and collects his trash. “And with that, I must be off.” he says, smirking a little as he does. “Anyone seen Solace? He’s supposed to escort me to class.”

“Other end. By Grover.”

“Thanks.”

And then he’s off, and the bell rings.

“Want to walk to History together?” Piper asks Jason. He smiles at her, and before he can answer, Leo answers for him.

“We’d love to.”

*

**Leo**

_Not to be dramatic. But we absolutely crushed that lunch. We made friends AND we’re going to a party this weekend? We’re legends. I’m renaming the chat._

_Leo renamed the chat “gd legends”_

**Hazel**

_Can’t argue with that._

**Leo**

_Jason? Thoughts? Feelings?_

Leo elbows Jason beside him, who looks up from his notes and over to him.

“Check your phone.” He shout-whispers.

In hopes of keeping Leo to remain quiet, Jason subtly pulls his phone out and flips it over on his desk. He reads through the messages with a laugh.

**Jason**

_Oh we’re definitely legends._

Leo snorts. 

**Leo**

_AND Jason got Piper McLean’s number which I think is a win by itself._

Jason glances at his phone, and shoves Leo in the arm, making Leo yelp. Piper turns around to look at them with a confused look on her face. “What’s up with you guys?”

Jason quickly slaps a hand over his phone screen and in unison, him and Leo reply: “Nothing.”

She’s obviously not convinced, but she turns around with a roll of her eyes, and Jason shoots Leo a death glare. Leo does nothing but laugh. 

**Hazel**

_I knew you were more smooth than you let on, Jason._

**Leo**

_I know you can’t see it Haze, but his face is so red right now._

**Jason**

_It’s just hot in here._  

**Leo**

_Sure it is_

**Hazel**

_Ok I actually have to get studying done in study hall, surprise, surprise, but I’ll talk to you guys later._

**Hazel**

_LEGENDS!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 3!!  
> Thank you all for your super nice comments! I'm having a lot of fun with this story, just getting to write the characters and figure out where the story is going :)  
> I have absolutely no idea how long this is going to be, but I pretty much know what is going to happen plot-wise.  
> Now that we've got basic introductions I hope that the fic will just continue to move forward and improve!  
> Get excited for that party either next chapter or the one after that!  
> Thanks again for reading and I hope to get another update out soon!


	4. Does everyone in this friend group just kiss?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: this chapter contains alcohol and drug use

By the end of the week, Jason feels so comfortable in his new school with his new friends, he can barely remember why he was so nervous coming in. Jason has never really had a group of friends before, a group of friends he felt like could become his best friends and that excites him. There is merit in isolation and being introverted, Jason gets that desire to be alone, but after being alone for so long, hanging out with good people is the best medicine. Right as the bell rings on Friday, Jason unlocks his phone and reads over the text he received from Piper this morning, one more time.

_Don’t forget Feminist club after school. Room 215._

When he reaches 215, it's about what he expected. It’s in his room for English class, and there’s about ten girls sitting around a table, with Hazel included. There are guys other than him which is cool, because he hates it when people think feminism is just resigned to women. As he walks in, he smiles at Piper who is up by the podium, and she reciprocates it. Hazel pats the open chair beside her, and Jason takes it, setting down his backpack in between his legs.

“I’m so glad you came Jason.” she says, with a big smile on her face. “Piper told me you were interested.”

He nods. “Of course.”

A couple more people file in, and then Piper is calling their attention to the PowerPoint she has on the board.

“Hey everyone, I’m Piper and I use she/her pronouns. As most of you know, I am the Vice President of Feminism club, and since Silena is it sick today, I will be leading the meeting for you all.”

Scattered applause, mostly led by Jason and Hazel fills the room.

“So to start, since we have some new faces in the room, I want everyone to introduce themselves with your name and pronouns.”

They start around the table, and Jason clears his throat a little bit before answering when it gets to him.

“Uh Jason, and I use he/him.” he says, hoping he said that right. He looks up at Piper who gives him a nod, which relaxes him. After everyone introduces themselves, Piper takes the reins on the meeting again.

“As we start every meeting, we’re going to take a look into news from this week.” She turns to the next screen on the PowerPoint and Jason’s face lights up when he sees the first article.

“I want to thank my friend Jason for telling me about this article about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and what’s she’s working on at the moment, and how that is affected by her position as a woman of color in congress.”

Jason grins back at her and he doesn’t notice, but Hazel eyes him knowingly, and whips her phone out under the table.

**Hazel**

_I see what you mean about Jason turning red in front of Piper_

**Leo**

_Told you so_  

Piper begins to outline what the article talks about, and then prompts discussion from the group on what their opinions are on the topic. Jason stays quiet for most of it. As it’s his first day, and he’s one of the only guys in the room, he doesn’t want to overstep, and honestly, he’s content listening to the conversation flowing in the room. Piper introduces a second article which they talk about as well, and Jason feels comfortable enough to jump in on the discussion on how the trans military ban affects the country. After news is done, Piper talks about a plan they had already been discussing to have a bake sale to raise money  to have an event with speakers or “something else cool like that” as she put it, and Jason thinks it sounds like a great idea.

He really enjoys watching Piper speaking up there. He can tell she’s a little bit shy, and doesn’t much like all the attention on her, but her passion for the issues she’s talking about allows her to break past that. They organize a time to meet outside of school to do the baking for the bake sale, and just like that, an hour is up. Everyone starts filing out, and Jason and Hazel linger to talk to Piper.

“That was so good.” Jason says, as soon as he makes it up to her. “Why aren’t you the president?”

She gives a nervous giggle. “Oh no, I couldn’t do that everyday. Silena- she’s awesome. And a senior. I like being vice president.”

Hazel smiles at Piper too. “You did great.”  
“I hope so.” she says, grabbing her backpack from behind the desk. “Did you enjoy the discussion, Jason?”

He nods. “I’ll be back next week. And I think I can make it to the baking thing.”  
“That’s amazing. It’ll be at my house, so I can text both of you my address, next week.”

“Cool.”

“Well I should get going.” Jason tells her, glancing at his watch. “Anyone need a ride home?”  
“I’ve got a car.” Piper says, and Jason tries to hide his disappointment that he doesn’t get to spend more time with Piper.

“I’m going to watch football practice, so I’m staying.” Hazel informs him. “I can walk out with you though.”

“Thanks again for coming, Jason.” Piper says, and he can feel how genuine it is.

“Course. See you tomorrow.”

“Yes! I will.”

Hazel and Jason head out of the classroom, and take a left towards the stairs.

“You’re so whipped for Piper.”

“I am not!” Jason retaliates immediately. “Piper and I are friends and she’s smart and pretty and that’s it.”

“Sure Jason.”

“You want to talk about whipped?” he says with a laugh. “What about you, Ms. “I’m going to watch football practice”?”

“I like football.” Hazel says, unconvincingly, and Jason laughs out loud.

“No you don’t! I’ve heard you rant about the NFL. You’re going for Frank.”

She flips her curls over her shoulder. “He asked me to come.”  
“Piper asked _me_ to come to Feminist club.”

She hums in amusement. “So it’s settled then. Neither of us are whipped.”

“Exactly.”

*

Jason realizes he is indeed whipped, when it’s Saturday and he’s ripping through his closet again to figure out what to wear to this party. Jason’s not stupid. He’s been to his fair share of parties, and he knows he can’t wear his school clothes or his clothes that make him look like a dad. He’s got about as far as trading in his glasses for contacts, and now he’s a little stuck. He contemplates calling Thalia again, but he doesn’t really want to disclose the fact he’s getting dressed up for not only _her_ friends, but also, a girl. That’s what prompts him to text the group chat.

**Jason**

_What do I wear to the party?_

**Hazel**

_Hahahaha Jason. Just wear whatever you want_

**Jason**

_Bad advice. I’ve recently come to terms with the fact I don’t know how to dress myself anymore._

**Jason**

_Uniforms mess you up_

**Hazel**

_I don’t know dude. Send pics in the group and we’ll pic our fave._

**Leo**

_Ok I didn’t read the rest of the texts but from the previous one I’m guessing we’re helping Jason pick out his best nude to send to Piper?_

**Jason**

_NO_

**Jason**

_READ FOR CONTEXT LEO_

**Leo**

_Lmfao my bad Superman. Yeah, like Hazel said just send pictures._

**Leo**

_I also might send some because you being nervous is making me nervous._

**Hazel**

_Now you guys are making ME nervous. Ugh, I’m sending pics too._  

 _Jason renamed the chat “nervous wrecks”_  

**Leo**

_gd legends to nervous wrecks in a matter of days._

**Leo**

_How the mighty have fallen_

*

And for the next hour or so, they all take turns taking cringey mirror selfies, with awkward faces and questionable outfits, before each of them feel content in their decisions. Jason knows it’s a little stupid, but he likes feeling prepared for situations. He also likes that his friends care enough to do stupid stuff with him.

**Hazel**

_Final answers. I’m going with outfit 2 with the purple,  Jason is outfit 4 with the black pants, and Leo is also outfit 4 which was the only one without a vest involved_

**Leo**

_Hey when you have an iconic look, you stick to it._

**Leo**

_Also I’m sure we’re all aware but these pictures are never leaving this chat._

**Jason**

_Agreed_

**Hazel** **  
** _Duh_

*

And before Jason knows it, he’s grabbing his keys, as well as his backpack, and heading out the door to his car. On the way to Hazel’s he makes a pit stop at Leo’s to pick him up.

“Thanks for the ride, man.” Leo says, as he slides into the passenger seat. “Nice outfit.”  
Jason rolls his eyes. “Yours too.”

They head off, and Leo zeroes in on the backpack in the backseat.

“Is that your backpack, Jason? I swear to god if you brought homework-”  
“Chill.” Jason says, cutting him off with a laugh. “I just brought a host gift.”

“Are you a middle aged woman going to book club? What do you mean a host gift?”

“Just open the backpack.”

Leo grabs it and pulls it into his lap, zipping it open to reveal two bottles of vodka.

“Holy shit, Jason!” Leo laughs, “I didn’t think you were into drinking.”

“Why not?”

“You’ve got the personality of a designated driver.”

Jason flips him off and Leo laughs again.

“You won’t swear but you’ll throw vulgar hand gestures at me? Maybe I don’t know you. There’s this whole dark drinking side to you I was unaware of.”

“Oh shut it. I’m fun.” Jason tells him. “This is just a small portion of the welcome home gifts I got from my sister— she's newly 21, baby.”

“If this is how it’s starting - tonight is going to be the best night of our lives.”

*

Leo and Jason sit in Jason’s car for about twenty minutes because they forgot that it’s uncool to show up to a party exactly on time. It’s only when they see Percy and Annabeth pull up in their car that they get ready to go.

“Oh dude do you see them?” Leo asks, as Jason is pulling his backpack over his shoulders. He glances back at Percy’s car and him and Annabeth are full on making out in the front seat.

“I still don’t get them.” Jason comments. “I can’t tell if they’re together or not. They also don’t even seem that much alike.”

“Well opposites attract. Look at you and Piper. She’s cool and you’re not.”

“Why does the conversation always have to go back to Piper?”

“Hey I’ll stop bringing her up when you stop getting a heart boner every time we mention her.”

It’s at that point, Jason decides to concede in the argument because Percy and Annabeth have made it inside the house and they're up next.

*

Hazel opens the door for them, and they’re pleasantly surprised to find Nico, Will, Annabeth, Percy, and Piper all sat in the living room with cups in hand.

“I come bearing gifts.” Jason says, lifting his backpack up into the air. Hazel takes it from him, and unzips the backpack before producing the two weighty bottles of alcohol, eliciting cheers from the group.

“Jason with the hookup!” Percy says with a grin. “Unexpected but also appreciated.”

“Hey I can’t take all the credit, Thalia is my hookup so that I can give you guys the hookup.”

“Bless her.”

Hazel ushers them further into the house, and Jason doesn’t even hesitate in sitting himself right next to Piper. He’s not really sure where the confidence is coming from, but he’s going to ride it out until it’s gone. Jason gets these sometimes, these bursts of confidence and leadership just rip out of him and he can’t control it. And honestly, he likes it a lot better than being awkward, nervous Jason.

“Welcome.” Piper says with a smile, before tilting her cup to him. “Wanna sip?”  
“Thanks, but I’m okay.” he smiles. He wants to make sure that it’s okay for him to sleepover, and everyone for that matter, before he throws himself fully into the party. Out of the corner of his eye he sees Nico bringing the alcohol he brought into the kitchen, so he decides to follow and ask him.

“Hey, I’ll be right back.” he tells Piper, and she makes a face.

“You just got here!”

He steps over the group and follows the path to the kitchen to see the island decorated with many many different kinds of alcohol. Nico is rummaging through one of the cabinets. He quickly glances over his shoulder at Jason, and Jason notices the flecks of glitter decorating his cheekbones.

“Are you stalking me, Grace?”

“No- uh no, I just wanted to ask you something.”

A beat passes.

“Okay? Spit it out.”  
“Uh is it cool for me to sleepover?”

Nico stands up with a curly pink straw in his hand and looks at Jason like he is the dumbest person alive. And there goes all that confidence.  

“Everyone is sleeping over.”

“Okay cool cool I just wanted to make sure.” he says, awkwardly. Nico nods slowly, and uncorks one of the wine bottles on the counter, before slipping the straw in and picking it up.

“Is that all?”

Jason nods. “Yeah, sorry to bother you.”

“It’s fine.”

Jason turns away to walk out, but at the last second he turns on his heels. “Uh you look nice tonight, by the way.”

Nico’s demeanor holds, but his lip twitches a little, almost threatening a smile.

“Thanks.”

Jason smiles and turns to walk out, and this time he follows through with it, heading back into the living room. Frank arrives just as Jason sits back down, and Reyna arrives right behind him. While Jason was gone, they had taken it upon themselves to fill up the rest of the red solo cups with a mixture of the alcohol they had in the living room. Jason grabs one and takes a sip, feeling the coarse mixture sting at his throat.

“Who is making drinks this strong?” He asks, wincing a little. Piper laughs and motions to Hazel.

“I think she’s trying to kill us all.”

“Or she’s making the party more fun.” Percy says.

“Bingo.”

That’s when Nico decides to saunter back in and sit himself directly in Percy Jackson’s lap.

“I don’t think you’re going to be a good influence on my sister.”  Nico comments, as Percy wraps his arm around Nico’s waist.

“Ah but we saw this coming.” Percy says with a shrug. “I’m bad.”

“Oh really?” Nico asks, taking a sip of his drink. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard Percy Jackson and bad in the same sentence.”

Percy rolls his eyes. “Did you sit on me just to insult me?”

“Oh you know I love you too much for that.”

Nico puckers his lips at Percy who chuckles and gives him a quick peck.

“Love you too.”

Wow. Jason is definitely not drunk enough for this night yet.

“Does everyone in this friend group just kiss?” Jason asks Piper, who chuckles.

“Pretty much. I can’t name one person in our group chat who hasn’t at least kissed two other people in the chat.”

Jason never had these kinds of friends back at his old school that’s for sure.

“Do you find that strange?” He asks Piper, who shrugs.

“Not really anymore. We’re very close.”

“I can see that.”

*

Once the buzz finally sets in, that’s when things start to get a little more interesting. No one can decide on a game, so it’s a lot of random conversations and sporadic kissing from Percy Jackson’s side of the room, namely between him and Annabeth. And Jason doesn’t know how they get on the topic, but somehow the conversation has drifted to gag reflexes.

“Is yours good?”

“I don’t know! I’ve never had a dick in my mouth in my entire life, that’s a fact.” Percy says, words slurring just a little.

“Mine is pretty good.” Nico says, nonchalantly, and Jason’s stomach flips at that. “Will Solace on the other hand...“

Will rolls his eyes, and shoves Nico in the arm, and Jason doesn’t have the time or energy to figure out what that means for the relationship between the two of them.

“I don’t have one.” Piper says, simply, and Jason wishes he didn’t blush so easily because he can feel the blood rushing to his cheeks and the tips of his ears.

“Prove it.”

Hazel steps out the the kitchen and returns with a banana. Piper stares at her for a second before holding out her hand. “Fine.”

She takes it from Hazel and peels it completely, asking Jason so sweetly: “Would you mind holding the peel?”

Jason nods, and his eyes remain locked on Piper as she parts her lips and easily pushes the banana down her throat, keeping it completely concealed for a few seconds before pulling it back out. And Jesus Christ if Jason isn’t popping a “heart boner,” as Leo called it, yet, he's pretty sure he's popping a real one. The group cheers and Piper awkwardly holds the banana.

“What do I do with it now?” she asks, with an awkward laugh.

“Leo, I'll pay you five bucks to eat it.” Percy says, and Piper makes a face. Leo however has no qualms to agreeing and the banana is gone in the next couple of minutes. And as promised, Percy pulls out his wallet and tosses a crumpled five dollar bill at Leo. That’s when the door rings again and Grover is there carrying a silver pan in his arms.

“That’s funny.” Jason says, not really realizing he’s thinking aloud. “I never took Grover for much of a baker. Piper snorts beside him, but says nothing.

“I brought brownies.” Grover says with a lazy smile, and Jason’s eyes light up as he pulls the cover off.

“Brownies are literally my favorite food Grover, thank you so much.” Jason reaches for the pan, but then hesitates and retracts his hand. “Is it rude if I take the first one?”

“No, go ahead.” Grover says, and he seems like he’s stifling a laugh, but Jason is too excited for brownies to think about that too much. “But I’d just have one, big guy.”

Jason nods before cutting one out and all but shoving the whole thing into his mouth. It was good, but a little gritty for Jason’s taste.

“Is there chia seeds in this?” He asks, and that’s when people start full on laughing. “What is that texture?”

“It’s weed, bro.”

“Oh.” Jason’s never had a weed brownie before. But he likes smoking sometimes and he LOVES brownies so he’s pretty sure it’s not going to be the worst thing in the world. “That’s chill.”

Grover grins at him, and a couple other people take some as well.

“I cannot wait for like an hour from now. Jason is going to be zoned the hell out.”

“I’m good- it’s all going to be fine Leo.” Jason says, but it sounds a little more like he’s convincing himself.

*

In the hour gap between when he ate the brownie and the brownie _really_ started to hit, Jason had laid on the couch and decided he never wanted to get up. So soft. And fluffy. Which is weird because he’s pretty sure all the couches in Hazel’s house are leather, but he is so completely unbothered right now that absolutely nothing matters.

“How are you feeling Jason?”

Jason rolls his head over and gives Piper a lazy smile.

“I feel so good right now. You wouldn’t even believe it.”

“You having fun?”

“Uh yes.” He tells her. “Of course I am, I’m at a party _and_ I had a brownie today.”

“Oh my god, where did all of his brain cells go?”

Jason sits up with a pouty expression on his face.

“I’ll have you know I’m really smart. Tell them Annabeth, tell them about math.”

“Jason’s in my math class.” she says, with a roll of her eyes. “And he’s smart.”

He raises his eyebrows at the group, because he wasn’t paying enough attention to notice who made the brain cells comment.

“Sorry, Jason. I just mean when you're high, you aren't the brightest bulb in the bunch.” He finally tracks the voice to Reyna, who is sitting beside Nico.

He thinks about it for a second and concedes. “Okay yeah, that’s fair.”

It might have been a hallucination, but Jason swears he sees Nico chuckle a little bit at him. That makes his whole body feel warm.

“This is getting boring. Can we do something?” Leo asks.

“I brought a chessboard.”

“Frank we’re not going to play chess in the middle of a party.”

“Well then what do you suggest?”

“We should play Spin the Bottle.” Piper suggests.

Nico scoffs. “What is this the 90’s?”

“Nico it’s called fun.” Piper says, “Ever heard of it?”

“There’s no better way to initiate the new kids then to make out with them.” Will points out, and as Jason reluctantly leaves his soft couch and sits himself back on the floor, he’s decided he would willingly kiss any person in the circle. Everyone is hot, every single one of them. Yeah it's in different ways, but Jason can get down. And wow that weed is REALLY hitting him. He can tell because his own thoughts are weirding him out.

“Well is everyone okay with kissing same gender because I’m not here for any homophobic bullshit.” Nico asks, pointedly.

Jason can’t be sure, but he feels like Nico’s words are directed at him. He knows he can kind of look like a big bully, but even high, Jason is offended Nico would even think he wouldn’t be okay with it. He’s bisexual for crying out loud. Part of him wants to just throw that in Nico’s face, but the bigger part of him wants to keep it quiet. He isn’t ready to tell them yet. So he simply nods, as does Leo and Hazel, and Annabeth grabs an empty bottle and sets it in the middle, before retreating to her place at Percy’s side.

“Who’s starting?”

“I’ll take one for the team and go.” Leo says, and Jason tries and fails to cover up a laugh at Leo’s eagerness. Leo hobbles on his knees into the circle and spins the bottle. It spins for a pretty long time, and slowly lands on Hazel.

Both of them burst out laughing, and Leo quickly leans over and pecks Hazel on the lips. Both make a face after and the group decides to just continue in the circle. After Leo, it goes to Will Solace who spins and lands on Grover who delivers a surprisingly intimate kiss. As it goes on, the combinations seem to get weirder and weirder, and it’s almost gone completely around the circle when it reaches Jason, and he has yet to kiss anyone. He leans forward and reaches for the bottle, missing it at first because his depth perception is pretty off at this point, but he manages to grab it and put a decent spin on it. He really hopes it lands on Piper, who he already had to watch Percy and Frank kiss, so hopefully third time's the charm and it lands on her again on Jason’s turn.

Obviously that was wishful thinking, because when Jason’s bottle comes to a stop, the lip of the bottle is pointing directly at Annabeth’s feet. So, Jason just crawls into the center of the circle a stupid smile on his face, and Annabeth shrugs Percy’s arm off her shoulder and meets him there. Jason thinks he can work with this. Annabeth is pretty and smart, so he’s into kissing her, but right as he slips his hand up to her cheek he makes the mistake of glancing over at Percy Jackson, who is staring at him with an expression of such incredible darkness and dislike, he thought only Nico was capable of. Before he can overthink it, he presses his lips onto Annabeth’s. It’s longer than a peck, as Jason isn’t too in control of what he’s doing at this moment in time, but also because he hasn’t kissed anyone in a long time, and Annabeth is a good kisser. She tastes like vodka, but he likes it. After a surprisingly long amount of time, he pulls back and Annabeth gives him a smile.

“Thanks.” Jason says, and the group around them laughs.

Annabeth laughs too. “You’re welcome. Consider it a thank you for siding with me in math class.”  
Jason joins the laughing too, and he scoots back to his seat. He looks out at the circle again, and only then does he remember Percy and the fact he still looks like he wants to strangle Jason. Jason can’t even tell if he’s consciously giving Jason that face, or if his expression just naturally fades into something like that when someone gets too close to Annabeth. Jason wouldn’t have pegged Percy for a jealous kind of a guy, but now he can’t be sure. Jason isn’t really sure about anything right now. His brain is pretty much like a goldfish so every thought makes it through his head and comes to a dead end stop. He returns to the conversation to see that Piper had spun the bottle, but it had yet to stop. He hopes and hopes and even subtly crosses his fingers, but the bottle lands on Reyna. He also doesn’t really mind watching Piper kiss Reyna, but he’d rather it be him.

The game continues and Jason kisses Will Solace and Reyna as well, but soon enough everyone starts to get bored and peter off from the game. Hazel and Frank head to play chess because Frank, being the only fully sober one is still adamant about the chess thing being fun, and one by one everyone starts to disappear into the kitchen, the bedrooms, and Jason is left in the living room, alone. He lays down on the floor and stares up at the ceiling, noticing that his high is starting to make him immensely tired. He’s almost unresponsive when he feels someone lay on the ground beside him. He turns his head out of sheer curiosity, and it turns out to be Percy Jackson.

“Hey bro.” Jason says.

“Be honest with me do you have a thing for Annabeth.”

Okay. Guess they're not beating around the bush.  
“No.”

Percy eyes him. “Are you sure? Because I can tell when people are into her and I get that vibe from you.”  
Jason furrows his brow. “What vibe?”

“You know!” Percy insists, seemingly reaching for a concept on the tip of his tongue. Jason assumes the alcohol in Percy’s system is messing with his brain as much as it’s messing with his. “The _vibe_.”

Jason sighs, not really capable of reading into Percy’s weird mind games. “Bro, I like Piper. I’m not moving in on your girl.”

“She’s not my girl.” Percy tells him. “Well, not really.”  
Jason’s quiet for a beat. “But you want her to be.”

Percy makes a face. “I mean, yeah. Is it that obvious?”

Jason shrugs lazily. “It’s obvious you both like each other.” he says. “Me an’ Leo saw you making out in your car earlier.”

“Okay but that’s the hard thing.” Percy says, putting his hands over his face. “I’ve known Anna since I was 12 years old, and it wasn’t until we got to high school that I started _really_ feeling stuff for her, you know?”

Jason nods.

“And the fact that I have feelings for her is hard enough but then we started sleeping together in the summer, right before we’re both going off to college, and I don’t know what to do. She’s the one who makes the moves, I mean she kissed me when we were 14 just because she wanted her first kiss over with, and I'm not sure if I’m supposed to be the one to tell her I like her, or take the fact she hasn’t done anything that she doesn’t think of me that way.”

Jason isn’t a relationship expert by any means but he wants to help Percy, so he shares the first thing that comes into his mind.  
“You should tell her, bro.” Jason says. “Like I can tell Annabeth clearly doesn’t need a guy, but I can also tell she really likes you. If you don’t tell her, you’re gonna regret it because she’s going to go to college never knowing where you stand with her.”  
“I know you’re right.” Percy says, letting out a sigh. “She’s just so hard to read. Sometimes I think she really likes me, and other times I think she just thinks I’m an idiot.”

“I think both of those statements are true.” Jason chuckles, and Percy socks him in the arm.

“You don’t think it’ll ruin our friendship?”  
“Can’t say.” Jason admits. “But I think you have to risk it.”

Percy rolls his eyes. “Why can’t this be easy?”

Jason shrugs. “The fact it isn’t easy shows you care about it.”

“Why is drunk Jason some philosophical guru?” Percy asks, making Jason laugh. “You’ve literally spoke more in this one conversation that I’ve heard you speak this entire week.”

Jason laughs this big bellowing laugh. “I think a lot about what I say.” he tells Percy, turning his head to look at him again. “But alcohol and weed takes away the thinking part so I just say stuff.”

Percy laughs too. “Good answer.”

Percy stretches his arms a little before sitting up. “We should probably go see what everyone else is doing.”

Jason nods, and wills himself to sit up because if he doesn't, he'll fall asleep. “Yeah, I really have to pee.”

“Well you go do that, and I’m going to take shots in the kitchen.”

“Perfect plan.”

Percy helps Jason up and gives him a fist bump before heading off to the kitchen. Jason sloths his way around the bottom floor until he hits the stairs, which seem much more treacherous than the last time he used them. Higher, and longer, and Jason has absolutely zero energy to walk up them which results in him leaning full body against the banister for support. He can’t really remember which door is the bathroom, so he just starts at the first one, and pokes his head in. It’s Hazel’s room, so that’s his first strike. The second one he checks is what he presumes to be an office belonging to Hazel’s dad because there’s a big oak desk, and tall bookshelves. Jason is almost tempted to go in and check out the books, but he decides against it because he knows there is no way he would comprehend them in his current state.

There’s only two doors left, and Jason opts to check the furthest one, because he vaguely remembers the bathroom being in a corner. He turns the handle and pushes inside, only to be met with a room that is definitely not the bathroom. He’s really sure it’s the wrong room because there’s way too much black, a bed in the middle of it, and Will Solace with his hand down Nico Di Angelo’s pants.

Will breaks his kiss with Nico in alarm, and Jason freezes in place for a second, shocked that he opened the door on them in such a compromising position.

“Sorry.” he squeaks out, just as Nico turns his head to look at him, and Jason can’t shut the door fast enough, and retreat to the final room which is actually the bathroom this time. After relieving himself, Jason decides he never wants to face Nico and Will Solace again. His habit of constantly embarrassing himself in front of Nico is getting pretty old, so if he avoids him, hopefully that’ll go away. He meets back up with Percy and a couple of others in the kitchen who have concocted a drink that is a complete mismatch of all the alcohol they have present tonight, and now they’re trying to figure out who should drink it.

“I’m gonna say it.” Jason says, and Jason notices a slur in his own words and the hint of a lisp he thought he had been rid of in childhood, returning. “This is a bad idea, guys.”

“Yeah, I'm with Jason.” Piper agrees, walking over to lean against the counter beside Jason. “Anyone who drinks that whole thing is going to throw up”

Her arm brushes against his, and his already warm body temperature heats up even more.

“You guys are no fun.” Leo complains.

“Why don't we all just take a shot of it? Reyna asks, nonchalantly, and Leo’s eyes light up.

“Genius idea. Reyna’s a genius, this just in, tell the news.” He says, as he pours the liquid into shot glasses.

Piper sighs, leaning a little more towards Jason, making their sides touch before she looks up at him. “I don’t think we’re getting out of this.”

“I don’t think we are either.”

Leo passes each of them a shot, and Jason looks down at the brown tinted liquid with a grimace on his face. Piper is about to throw her glass back, but Jason quickly grabs her wrist to stop her, offering his glass out to her.  
“Cheers?”

She smiles at him, and clinks her glasses against his, before both of them throw the shot back. Jason winces at the harsh feeling running down his throat, and when he glances at Piper she’s got a look on her face like she just sucked on a lemon.

“Oh no.” Jason coos, easily pulling Piper into his side. “That bad?”

She nods, turning into Jason’s chest a little. “Tastes like a sour asshole.”

Jason laughs, and let’s his arm wrap a little tighter around her. “Does anyone have a chaser for Piper?”  
“Chasers are for PUSSIES.”

“Shut up Leo.” Piper murmurs.

Thankfully Percy finds some orange juice in the fridge which makes its ways over to Jason and Piper. Jason fills a shot glass with some of the juice and hands it to Piper, who downs it quickly. She sets the glass on the counter and lets out a sigh.  
“Better?”

“Better.” she affirms. “But I’m never drinking anything Leo mixes again.”

“Great self preservation instinct.”

*  
From there, the party starts to wind down. No one was really looking for a crazy night, just a party where everyone could let loose and get to know each other a little better. Jason feels he completed his own personal checklist which solely consisted of interacting with Piper, and that went better than he could’ve hoped. After their time in the kitchen, she started getting tired, so Jason removed his arm and she headed off to Hazel’s room to sleep. Before leaving though, she thanked him for being there for her after the worst shot of her life. And that made Jason feel even warmer and fuzzier than he already did.

At around one, Jason decides to venture off to find his own place to sleep. The first couch he was on immediately calls his name, but he finds Frank there with a blanket wrapped around him, and Grover on the couch beside him. He doesn’t chance going upstairs again, so Jason simply grabs one of the pillows from Grover’s couch, and hankers down onto the plush carpet to sleep. He sets the pillow at his head, and lays back on it, staring up at the ceiling once again. He starts imagining how many inches it would take to get to touch the highest part of the ceiling, and that’s when he drifts off into sleep.

*

The next morning, Jason’s internal clock wakes him up early. Much earlier than he would’ve liked, but he notices immediately that he’s not the only one awake. None of the people in the room with him are awake, but he smells breakfast cooking and he can hear footsteps, and humming coming from the kitchen. He sits up to find that at some point in the night a blanket has been thrown over top him, and that all of the red cups in living room are now gone. Someone had gone through and cleaned up the mess of a living room and Jason is pretty impressed. The only person who was not intoxicated last night was Frank, and he was probably the first one asleep, and the least likely to have cleaned up the house.

Jason kicks off the blanket, and winces at the fact he left his contacts in overnight.

“Stupid.” he murmurs to himself, as he blinks at the unwelcome discs still in his eyes.

He runs a hand through his hair and decides to head into the kitchen to see who has the up too early, feeling too productive attitude on this Sunday morning.

He steps inside, and Nico is at the stove, clad in a long black robe. He turns over his shoulder and gives Jason a second-long glance before turning back to the pan on the stove.

“Good morning.” Nico says over his shoulder.

“Morning.” Jason replies. “Can I help you with anything?”  
“If you could collect some of the bottles and cups and throw them away, that would be great.”

Jason gives a nod, and heads over to where he spies the majority of the empty bottles on the island. He spots the trash can and pulls that to his feet before collecting two bottles at a time and disposing of them. He makes his way around the kitchen, tossing shot glasses in the sink, red solo cups in the recycling, and bottles in as well, and he and Nico work in comfortable silence. That is until Nico breaks it.

“It’s okay.” he says, and Jason is confused.

“What’s okay?”

“That you walked in on me and Will.” he says, nonchalantly. “I don’t care.”

Jason didn’t expect they would ever bring that up, but here they are.

“Oh. okay cool.” he answers. “I just felt bad for uh, interrupting a private moment.”

Nico shrugs, before taking his current pan off the stove and walking over to a bowl of what looked to be pancake mix waiting on the counter.

“Not that private, seeing as I forgot to lock the door.”

Jason chuckles a little, surprised that Nico cracked a joke.

“You’re funny.”

“Are you surprised?”

Jason shrugs. “A little bit.” he admits. “I’m more surprised that you can cook.”  
“I can’t.” he tells Jason. “Not really anyways. Our dad is gone a lot so I figured I better learn how to cook so me and Hazel aren’t eating McDonald's every night.”

“That’s smart.” he offers, tentatively moving closer to where Nico is at the stove. “I can’t cook anything. I make my lunch in the dark.”

A laugh bubbles up in Nico’s throat, but he refuses to let it fully out. Jason guess he’s not worthy of a laugh just yet. “Maybe turning on the lights would improve your abilities.”

“Never thought of that. Thanks for the tip.”

“Does anyone have any aspirin?” Nico and Jason turn around to see Annabeth walking in, a tired look in her eyes. “Percy feels like shit.”

“On top of the fridge.” Nico tells her. “And bring him water too, god knows he’ll be dehydrated.”

Annabeth grabs what she needs and exits, and Jason is again surprised at Nico’s motherly instincts.

“Why are you so domestic?”

“Why are you so nosy?”

“Why is there no toilet paper left in your bathroom?”

Both boys glance over once again to see Grover.

Nico makes a face. “There’s more under the sink Grover.” he tells him. “Why does everyone act like they’ve never been in this house before?”  
Grover shrugs, and disappears off.

The silence returns between them, and Nico flips a full stack of pancakes onto the plate beside him, and looks at Jason with raised eyebrows.

“Well don’t just stand there. Make yourself useful.”  
Jason complies immediately, taking the plate of pancakes and bringing it out to the table.

He returns and helps transfer eggs, bacon, and a bowl of fruit, as well as cups and drinks. By the time he grabs silverware, almost everyone is up and starting to dig in to the food. Jason finishes by grabbing some napkins and taking a seat beside Piper, who looks particularly cute and sleepy due to the early hour.

“I have a proposition.” Percy says, obviously feeling at least a little better about his hangover.

“Yes, I’ll join you and Annabeth in a threeway.”

Everyone bursts out laughing at Nico’s comment, and he leans back in his chair with a satisfied smirk.

“Okay okay ha ha - but here’s my real proposition.” Percy says, trying his best to corral the group’s attention once again. “I say we make a group chat.”

“Of ten people? That’s a nightmare.”

“Some of us don’t have smartphones.”

“Don’t we have enough group chats already?”

“You know what, it’s not a proposition, I’m making it. Delete all the other ones because this is going to be the mother of all group chats.”

Percy pulls out his phone, and the group pools contacts together so that everyone gets added.

Jason’s phone lights up in his pocket, and he pulls it out with a smile, revealing the notifications.

_Percy Jackson created the group chat._

_Percy Jackson added Annabeth Chase, Nico Di Angelo, Piper McLean, Reyna Ramirez-Arellano, Jason Grace, Hazel Levesque, Will Solace, Frank Zhang, Leo Valdez._

_Percy Jackson named the group chat “The motherfuckin’ squad”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhhhh welcome back to I have no idea how to space out chapters. This is a pretty long update of almost 7k so sorry if my long then short then long chapter posting feels awkward. I don't really plan out length, I just take the idea for the chapter and run with it until I'm done. I contemplated breaking the party into two chapters but I couldn't find a great stopping place so I kept it as one!  
> I really liked writing this chapter, it was so much fun trying to get everyone interacting so I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it. I hope to update again soon, but I guess depending on workload and how long each chapter is the updates will be longer apart. I'm actually getting super excited to continue this story and write all I want to write so thank you all for reading and giving such nice comments!


	5. Ladies love water polo

By the time Jason makes it home after dropping off Leo and Reyna at their respective houses, the group chat is already 60 messages strong, and Jason doubts he’ll ever be able to keep up with this much information coming in at once. He opens it up, and quickly scrolls through, catching only glimpses of conversation 

**Nico**

_I’m doing a deep clean. If anyone threw up in a vase tell me now, so it’s not a surprise._

**Percy**

_I only threw up in the shower. Honest!_

**Nico**

_Disgusting._

A little further down he sees

**Leo**

_Absolutely no one wants to go watch you at 5:00am swim practice tomorrow Percy r u kidding_

And further down from that the conversation just divulges into madness.

**Annabeth**

_Obviously if we were going to pick a tensome to be we would be the ten plagues of Egypt, it’s much more interesting that the stupid bill of rights_

And finally Jason happens upon something that truly catches his eye.

**Piper**

_Actual important conversation here: What are we doing for homecoming? I’m assuming we’re all going together_

Homecoming? Since when is homecoming happening? Jason vaguely recalls seeing some posters up in the past week, but he never really paid attention to it.

**Nico**

_We’re going to homecoming? Do we have to?_

**Piper**

_Yes you have to! I’m on the planning committee so you have to support me._

**Piper**

_Also don’t act like u don’t love a dance, Nico. We all remember winter formal last year._  


Well, Jason doesn’t. But that’s beside the point.

**Hazel**

_We also all have to go to the homecoming game to support Frank. It’s the same day._

**Hazel**

_And before anyone asks, yes you can all sit down, and no you don’t have to pay attention._

**Leo**

_Thank god_

That’s when Jason decides to jump in on the stream of texts.

**Jason**

_Okay can someone catch me up. When is homecoming, when is the football game, just what is going on in general?_

**Piper**

_Lol, sure. Homecoming is in two weeks. It’s that Saturday night, and because our school is shitty and has no funding for fun and good things it’ll be in the school gym. Tickets are like $5 or something and we start selling them this week._

**Piper**

_But idk anything about the football game hahah_

**Frank**

_Football game is that morning at 10am! Hope to see everybody there! I’m pretty sure I play better when I know you guys are in the crowd :) :) :)_

**Reyna**

_Fine fine, I don’t need more guilt tripping. We’ll be there, Frank._

**Frank**

_:)_

**Annabeth**

_Circling back to your original q Piper -- we have zero plans_

**Annabeth**

_So we’ll all do whatever you tell us to do_

**Piper**

_That’s the answer I was hoping for_

And after that, Jason is about to toss his phone aside and get into the shower, but he’s stopped by another notification appearing on his screen.

**Will**

_Oh! Homecoming! Sweet._

**_Will_ **

_@Nico do you wanna go with me?_

Over text? Come on, Will. Jason isn’t too versed in how dating works, but asking someone to a dance over text and in a group chat with nine other people isn’t the way he would’ve gone about this particular situation. Jason can just imagine how Nico is going to react to-

**Nico**

_Oh Solace. Always the romantic._

**Nico**

_Yeah. Let’s do it._

Well, that was a better response than Jason anticipated. Maybe that’s how Jason should do it with Piper. Just bite the bullet and text her. He could do that, but that just twists something wrong in Jason’s gut. Piper is someone who deserves to be romanced. If he were to build up the courage to ask her to the dance, he knows he couldn’t live with himself if he didn’t at least do it in person. Jason actually tosses his phone aside and goes to take a shower, because after that party he knows he wants to take his contacts out as soon as possible and get the stench of beer and weed and anything else on the floor of that living room off of him.

*

The rest of the weekend is uneventful. The group chat is active almost all hours of the day, but whenever Jason checks in, it tends to be memes, and gifs, and other little conversations that don’t usually pertain to Jason so he’s not always confused when logging on. There seemed to be no drama in the chat that Sunday, so when Jason gets accosted in the hall be Percy on Monday, he is incredibly surprised.

“I need to talk to you.” is all he says, before gripping Jason’s collar and dragging him into the nearest bathroom. Jason is surprised because that means this is something he is only telling Jason, not the whole group, and that worries Jason. After all, he’s only known Percy for less than a week, so the first thing that comes to Jason’s mind is that Percy found out what happened at Jason’s old school, but that’s impossible. Or at least is should be. As Jason divulges back out his inner monologue, Percy checks each of the stalls to make sure no one else is in the bathroom.

“Are you going to beat me up?” Jason blurts, and Percy glances at him with an unimpressed look.

“Why would I beat you up?”

“I don’t know Percy! You’ve got an intimidating look and you’ve just dragged me into an empty bathroom.” he says, pushing his glasses higher on his nose. “I’ve seen the movies.”

Percy laughs at Jason. Not with him, straight at him. “No, I’m not beating you up bro. I have to tell you what happened with me and Annabeth this weekend.”

Jason’s face lights up. As much as he’d like to pretend he doesn’t, he loves gossip. Well, not gossip specifically, he just likes knowing things about other people. It helps him understand them better.

“Oh well tell me that!” he insists. “Did you tell her how you feel?”

Percy nods. “We got into a huge fucking fight.”

Jason’s face droops a little. He really thought that this would work out well between Annabeth and Percy. Anyone who meets them can see how much they care for each other.

“I’m sorry bro, with my advice I was just trying to help-”  
“And you did” Percy says, with a shrug. “Let me tell you what happened.”

_~_

**_Percy_ **

_Want to come over tonight? Mom and Paul are having date night and taking the baby with them._

**_Annabeth_ **

_Can’t tonight. I have a test tomorrow I haven’t even thought about studying for_

**_Annabeth_ **

_I HATE being a procrastinating perfectionist_

**_Percy_ **

_Study over here. I have stuff to work on too!_

**_Annabeth_ **

_Percy, you and I both know that’s not going to work. You distract me too much._

**_Percy_ **

_What if I promise to be good? ;)_

**_Annabeth_ **

_Ugh fine. I hate u. I’ll be there at 6 and we will be studying. And ur ordering me take out._

_As promised, Annabeth arrives at 6, and Percy provides the takeout. She immediately takes over his bed, spreads out all of her study materials, and focuses solely on the work in front of her. Which drives Percy absolutely insane. He wants all of her attention, and that’s something he rarely has the privilege of receiving. He tries to work on his homework, but it hardly holds his attention the way Annabeth does. He glances over his laptop to stare at her. She looks beautiful. Her blonde hair is piled in a bun on top of her head, and her grey eyes are staring so intently at her notes. He likes that when she focuses, she bites down on her lip. He can always tell when she’s deeply thinking about something when that happens. Percy is sure he doesn’t think half as deeply as Annabeth does about school, about literally anything in his life._

_“Stop staring at me.” she says, not looking up from her notes._

_“I’m not.”_ _  
_ _“Yes you are.” she insists. “And it’s annoying.”_

_“Can’t help it.” he says, cheesily. “You look pretty.”_

_She rolls her eyes, but Percy can see the blush on her cheeks. “You’re so stupid.”_

_There it is. One of Percy’s favorite terms of endearment. When she calls him stupid, she always does it in a way where Percy can feel the fondness rolling off her tongue. Oh god he likes her. His brain floats back to his conversation with Jason the other night._

**_“You have to tell her, bro.”_ **

_Stupid Jason. Percy knows he’s right. And he hates that he’s right. He has to tell her._

_“Annabeth.” he says, before he can stop himself._

_Annabeth sighs. “Percy. You said you weren’t going to distract me.”_

_“I know.” he says, apologetically. “But I want to ask you a question.”_

_“Is the question stupid?”_

_Percy thinks about it. “Maybe.”_

_“What is it?”_

_“Do you like me?”_

_She looks up from her paper and makes a face at him. “What kind of question is that?”_

_“A valid one?”_

_Annabeth is quiet for a second, before she looks up at Percy with an angry expression. “What do you mean do I like you? We’re best friends. We spend all our time together, we sleep together for god sakes, obviously I put up with you for some reason.”_

_Percy pinches the bridge of his nose. “Anna, you know that’s not what I mean.”_

_“What do you mean then, Percy?” she asks, crossing her arms. “Because right now it seems like you’re wasting my time and cherry picking for compliments about what I like about you.”_

_“Why is your immediate defense when I try and talk about feelings to shut down and be mean to me?”_

_“Oh because you’re so good at talking about your feelings.” she groans. “You’re the most indifferent person on the planet.”_ _  
_ _“What are you talking about?”_

_“You’ve got a million friends, you talk to girls all the time, you charm everyone you meet Percy.” she says, standing up and raking her hands through her hair. “I can never tell what you want because you never say shit.”_

_“What about you?” he argues, standing up to meet her. “Half the time you act like you could care less about me and all that matters is the homework, and the future, and the work we have to do. What does a guy have to do get you to think about him for once? Pay attention to me for once?”_

_“You’re so selfish!” she says, and they’re nose to nose._ _  
_ _“No I’m not.” he says, firmly. “I’m just asking for you to put me in the picture, Anna.”_

_She narrows her eyes to the floor. “You’re already in my picture.” she murmurs, barely audible._

_“What did you say?”_

_“God damnit, Percy, I said you’re already in my picture.” she says, angry tears pooling in her eyes. “You’ve been in my picture since we were twelve years old, and just because you’re stupid doesn’t mean I don’t show it.”_

_Percy’s heart swells. He slips a finger under her chin, and tilts it up to meet his gaze. She looks so mad at him, but Percy doesn’t care._

_“Really?” he asks, softly._

_“Yeah, really.”_

_“You know you’re in my picture too. I mean, I can’t even imagine my future without you in it. I try, I try to think about seeing other people and I can’t, It always comes back to you.”_

_She’s silent. He knows he’s gone this far, and even if that silence scares him he has to say it._

_“It’s you Annabeth. The person I want to be with; it’s always been-”_

_And then she’s kissing him, and everything else except her melts away._

_~_

“So, now we’re dating!”

“Way to bury the lead, Percy!” Jason cries. “Why would you preface this like it went badly?”

Percy shrugs. “I wanted to keep you on the edge of your seat. This is a big fucking deal!”

Jason rolls his eyes. “Well yeah, but we did all see it coming. I mean I’ve been here for a week and I could tell.”

“Whatever. Now you should probably get to class.”

Jason checks his watch, and groans as he sees that Percy has made him late for homeroom.

“Come on, Percy.” He groans. “My homeroom teacher already hates me.”

“Skip?”

“I’m not going to do that.”

“Fine. Who is it?”

“Mr. D?”

Percy laughs loudly. “Oh shit. Sucks for you. He loves me, though.”

“Good for you.”

“How about I drop you off?”

“Why not. I’ve got nothing to lose.”

They head to Jason’s first period, and as they make it to the entrance, Percy knocks on the door, flashing a wide smile.

“Hey, Mr. D.”

Mr. D looks up from his newspaper unimpressed.   
“Peter Johnson.” he grumbles. “Thought I was rid of you this year.”

“You are, and uh It’s Percy Jackson.” he says, awkwardly. “I just wanted to let you know that it’s my fault Jason is late, and he shouldn’t get in trouble because of it.”  
“No matter the reason, Mr. Grace is tardy. I don’t care if you an accessory to this fact Johansson, but now that I know I will inform your homeroom teacher as such.”

“I thought you said he liked you.” Jason whispers and Percy makes a face.

“I lied.” Percy whispers back. “He hates me so much I thought I would take more of the heat.”  
“Great plan.”

“Well you’re here now, Mr. Grace.” Mr.D says, nonchalantly. “Please take your seat.”

Jason nods and stalks to his seat beside Hazel who is stifling a laugh. Percy gives a dramatic wave and then heads out of the room.

“Playing hooky?”

“Blame Percy. It actually was his fault.”  
“Oh I’m sure it was.” Hazel says with a laugh. “Don’t worry though. Mr. D hates Percy, so I’m pretty sure he didn’t even mark you tardy.”

“Really?”

She nods. “Honestly, he barely has the energy to take attendance, so having to change things on it would be even more work for him.”  
Jason laughs. “That’s a relief.”

“Do you need math help today?” he asks, and she shakes her head.

“We’ve got more pressing issues.”

“And what is that?”

“How are you asking Piper to homecoming?”

Jason’s face heats up. “Is that something I’m doing?”

Hazel shrugs. “I mean I assumed so. You like her don’t you?”

“Yeah.” Jason says, knowing there’s no point in trying to deny it. “I do.”

“Then what’s the problem?”  
“I don’t know! What if she doesn’t want to go with me?”

Hazel whips out her phone and types out a text.

“Just a second.” 

**Hazel**

_If Jason asked Piper to homecoming do you think she would say yes?_

“Wait who did you text that to?”

**Frank**

_Yes. Obviously._

**Reyna**

_Stupid question. Anyone would say yes to Jason, and you add the fact Piper’s crushing on him it makes it even more of a stupid question._

**Hazel**

_Thank you, exactly what I thought._

Hazel hands Jason her phone who gets a stupid smile on his face after reading the texts.

“Does it have to big deal?” he asks Hazel, handing her the phone. “Or can I just ask her in the hallway or something?”

“I think hallway is fine.” she says, genuinely. “As long as you don’t do it in the group chat, you’re good.”

“That was weird, wasn’t it?”

Hazel shrugs. “My brother has never cared much for romance so I think it was fine for him.” she says. “And him and Will aren’t even dating so I doubt he expected a grand gesture.”

“When is Frank going to pop the question?”

Hazel rolls her eyes, but answers him. “I don’t know. But if he doesn’t do it soon, I’m going to.”

Jason lifts up his pinky to her. “How about we both promise to do it by the end of the week?”

She thinks about it for a second before locking her pinky with his. “Deal.” 

*

After that promise, Jason proceeds to not make good on it for the next 48 hours. He doesn’t know what’s stopping him. He likes Piper, he _really_ likes her, and he kind of knows she likes him back, but for some reason he’s still nervous. He thinks he’s probably nervous because he might say the wrong thing in the five seconds it takes to ask her and she changes her mind about her feelings for him. Okay, that’s getting irrational and he knows it. It’s lunchtime on Wednesday when he makes the executive decision to do it. He waits outside the lunch room, hoping to catch her before she goes in to sit. He cranes his neck up over the crowds, and he’s so intent on locating Piper, he barely notices the short burly man who stops himself in front of Jason.

“Jason Grace?”

Jason looks down to see someone who he recognizes as the gym teacher. He can’t really remember his name, but he’s definitely familiar, and definitely someone Jason doesn’t want to be mad at him.

“Uh yeah?”

The man’s face breaks into a smile. “You’re a tall one! And looks at those muscles!”

“Can I help you?” Jason asks awkwardly, hoping the middle aged man will stop checking him out.

“I think you can, cupcake.” he tells him. “I’m Coach Hedge. And I want you, Jason Grace to be on one of my teams.”

“Teams?” Jason is a little distracted, still half looking for Piper while Coach Hedge talks to him.

“My sports teams!” he grins, clapping Jason on the back. “I’ve got Jackson and Zhang already, and I think Grace is the perfect one to balance it out.”

He finally spies Piper, but Coach Hedge pulls his attention back to the conversation.

“Do you play any?”

Jason furrows his brows. “I did basketball at my old school?”  
Coach Hedge grumbles to himself a little. “Well our basketball team is pretty solid.” he says, “we could always use bench warmers, but Grace, I don’t think you’re a bench warmer.”

He presses a finger into Jason’s chest with a smile.

“I think you’re team captain material!”

It’s at that moment, when he’s accosted up against a wall by Coach Hedge, that Piper chooses to walk by. She bites back a laugh as she walks by, communicating only by reaching out and squeezing his arm gently, as she passes.

“Oh a lady to impress?” he asks, and Jason’s cheeks heat up. “Ladies love water polo.”

“I don’t think I’d be good at that.”

Then Coach Hedge’s face lights up. “I’ve got it! Wrestling!”

And that actually catches Jason’s attention. He likes wrestling. It’s one of the world’s oldest sports, dating all the way back to caveman times which Jason thinks is pretty cool. It was in the original Greek Olympic games, and it’s a pretty diverse sport. And Jason is never too opposed to getting decked by other guys.

He pushes his glasses up, and truly considers Coach Hedge’s proposition for the first time since the conversation started.

“When would practices be?”

Coach Hedge grins at him. “Tuesdays and Thursdays.”

Jason thinks for a second, even though he knows he has no plans.   
“I’m not promising anything. But I might be interested in joining.”

“That’s all I need, Grace.” he says, smacking Jason in the chest once again. “Come by my office tomorrow after school and we’ll figure things out.”

“Where’s your office?”

The question is futile, because Coach Hedge had already disappeared into the crowd. Jason assumes he’ll figure out where it is, and if he doesn’t Coach Hedge will come find him, so with that knowledge, he just heads into the lunchroom.

He takes the open seat beside Piper, who chuckles at him as he sits down.

“What were you doing talking to Coach Hedge?” she asks. “Looked pretty intimate.”

Jason shoves her in the arm playfully, and she shoves him back with a giggle.

“Nothing too major. He wants me to join wrestling.”

She raises her eyebrows. “Really?”

He nods. “Do you think I should?”

She shrugs. “I don’t know why not.” she says. “I have to be honest I know nothing about it. They let girls join at our school, though which is great.”

Jason nods. “Yeah, I’m thinking about it.”

“And if it’s any consolation, I think you would look very good in the uniform.”

He laughs. “You want me in a leotard?”

“Yeah, I think that’s definitely the best choice for you.” she says, with another laugh. “What you’ve got going on now isn’t _bad,_ but the leotard is just next level.”

He rolls his eyes at her. “Well, now I’m sold. I should buy one immediately.”

“I’m glad you’re taking my advice.”  
“Well, what else was I going to wear to homecoming?”

She laughs again, and this time, she leans into him a little as she does. Jason’s brain goes off. This is it. This is the perfect opportunity to ask her to homecoming.

“Hey Piper?”

“Yeah?”

And at the last second, he chickens out.

“Uh, sorry, I forgot what I was going to say.”

She shrugs, and turns back to the other conversation.

Jason is an idiot.

*

Jason is an idiot, and he continues to be an overthinking idiot until the school day ends. Piper even sat next to him in history instead of in front like she usually does and he still couldn’t pluck up the courage. He just wants to be enough for Piper, and simply asking her to homecoming just somehow doesn’t feel like enough. Jason wants more from what he’s asking, you know?

When he’s walking from his last class, he spots Piper at her locker, talking to Drew, a senior who Piper hangs out with sometimes. His plan is simply to walk by and say hi, but for some reason, his feet take him over to Piper’s locker. Both girls pause in their conversation to look at him.

“Hi Jason.” Piper says, with a shy smile.

“Hey Piper. Hey Drew.” he says, and she gives him a nod. “Do you think I could talk to Piper alone for a second?”

“I should be going anyways.” she says, “places to go people to see.. Text me later Piper.”

“Will do!” and as Drew heads off, Piper turns her attention back to Jason. “What did you want to talk to me about?”  
“Do you want to go out sometime?”

And just like that he did it. He asked her out. It barely even registered to him that the plan was to ask her to homecoming, because Jason kind of knew he wanted to go on more than just the one date with Piper.

“Like on a date?”

Jason can’t help but laugh a little. “Yeah, on a date.”

A bashful smile spreads across her face. “I’d really like that.”

And Jason’s heart is singing, and he knows he’s blushing like crazy and that it's just one date, but he is really freaking relieved she said yes.

“Cool cool.” he says, unable to stop smiling. “Are you free tomorrow night?”

She nods. “After 5, I’m yours.”

 _After 5, I’m yours._ Jason is going to be thinking about that forever.

“Great! Can I pick you up at 6? Take you to dinner?”

“Yes. I will text you my address.”

“Okay awesome.” he says, tugging his bottom lip between his teeth. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then?”  
She nods, and opens her arms out to him. Jason chuckles a little, and wraps his arms around her in a soft hug. She nuzzles gently into his neck, and he sighs contentedly. She pulls back first, and grabs the last of the stuff out of her locker, before shutting the door, and turning on her heels. And over her shoulder she calls:

"See you tomorrow!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woohoo another chapter!!  
> This one is HELLA fluffy because I can't contain my soft bs as much as I like to think I can!  
> To clarify, if its confusing, the italics part with percy and annabeth is basically a flashback scene. I thought that would be better to read than Percy relaying the whole story to Jason haha. This chapter is definitely setting up a lot of different things that will be happening in the story but I hope you enjoy nonetheless!
> 
> Thanks to everyone who keeps reading and commenting and I hope to have another chapter up this weekend :)


	6. Where did we find this one?

“I’ve got a date with Piper, a real actual date.” Jason says, the second Hazel picks up the phone. “And it wasn’t even hard, Hazel. I got so in my head about it but I just walked up to her and asked! And she said yes!”

“As happy as I am for you Jason, I think Hazel is probably more invested in this than I am.”

Jason freezes in his excitement. “Nico? I thought I called Hazel.”

“You did. We happen to live together, if you didn’t know.” he says, and he’s back to doing everything in his power to make Jason feel stupid. “And sometimes she leaves her phone in the living room.”

“Could you give her the phone?” he asks, feeling embarrassed now.

“I’m handing her the phone right now. Bye Jason.”

“Bye.”

“Why’re you calling me?” Hazel asks, the second she gets on the phone.

“Because I’ve got big news Hazel!” he informs her, his excitement bubbling up once again. “News that was way too big for the stupid group chat.”

“Wow.” she says, with a chuckle. “Dissing the group chat? Jason showing big emotions? This must be important. Should I sit down?”  
“Only if you’re on the edge of your seat.”

“Just tell me Jason.”

“I’ve got a date with Piper tomorrow.” he says happily. “A full on freaking date, Hazel.“

“Oh Jason that’s so great.” Hazel gushes. “Where are you taking her?”

He settles down on his bed. “Ah didn’t think that far ahead. Somewhere for dinner.”

“We can brainstorm in homeroom tomorrow.” she says, and the fondness he has for Hazel only grows.

“Perfect.” he says. “How’s it going on your end?”

“Not bad, but not as good as yours.” she tells him. “Frank is very shy. I think he can tell that I like him, but I don’t know if he’s planning on doing anything about it, or just letting me suffer until I bite the bullet and ask.”

“I don’t know, I think Frank could buck up and do it if he cares enough about you.” Jason offers. “But you know there’s nothing wrong with you asking him to the dance.”  
“I know!” she says, and but Jason can tell she wants that feeling of getting asked. “I just- I guess I wanted confirmation he likes me too.”   
“I know you do.”

She lets out another sigh. “Whatever.” she says, simply. “Not all of us can have as perfect of a love life as you, Jason.”

Jason snorts. “I just asked out one girl and we haven’t even gone out yet. That hardly calls for a ‘perfect love life’ comment.”

“You’re right. You still have time to mess it up.”

Jason lets out a hearty laugh. “Now don’t get all jaded on me now, Haze.”

“I’m not, I promise. I’m very happy for you.”

“Good. Glad I could share this with you.”

Hazel laughs lightly on the other end of the line. “Alright. See you tomorrow.”  
“See you. Bye.”

*  
**Leo**

_What about the Italian restaurant right by school? I’ve heard it’s good. And like just enough fancy to impress her._

“Leo suggests the Italian restaurant like a block away from here.” Hazel relays to Jason the next morning. “And I have to second that option. It’s cute, and festive. I’ve been there a couple times because my dad always wants Nico to get in touch with his ‘Italian Heritage.’”

“Oh yeah, I've heard that place is good! Piper would like it, right? Everyone likes Italian food.”

She nods. “I think so.”

Jason lets out a sigh of relief. “Good. Now that that’s settled…” he starts, “Do you need me to having a talking to with Frank?”

“Oh my god, NO.” she says. “That’d be like my dad interfering with my love life.”

“Hey! I’d be chill. I could just bring up the fact that you like him-“

“Well don’t tell him that.” she says, and Jason rolls his eyes.

“You said he already knew!”

“I said I _think_ he knows.”

“Haze come on, I’ll do it. I want to help you.” he insists.

She crosses her arms. “I’m not telling you to do anything.” she says. “But I’m also not telling you not to do anything.”

Jason grins, and it’s dashed quickly by Hazel slapping her hand onto his desk. “But I swear to god if you involve Leo in this-“

Jason laughs. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

*

And he doesn’t. Leo is probably his best friend, besides Hazel, and Jason is aware that subtly and romance aren’t two skills Leo would put on his resumé. He worries it would be too much to involve him. Jason doesn’t know Frank that well, but he can tell they’re pretty similar people. Frank seems introverted, and a little unsure of himself despite being on the football team and hanging out with the popular kids, and Jason thinks his feelings for Hazel fall into that mix too. He knows that Frank has a class in the same hallway as him for third period, so Jason stands at his own locker, glancing around for Frank. Jason spots him, and just as he’s about to pass, Jason calls out to him. Frank looks a little bewildered for a second, but comes over.

“Hey, man.” Jason says. “I’ve got a question.”

“Okay, shoot.”

“Where’s Coach Hedge’s office?” He asks, hoping this will soften the blow into the second part of the conversation. “I’ve got to meet him there after school, and I have no idea where it is.”

Frank smiles. “It’s on the first floor, right to the left of the office.”

“Oh! Thanks.”

Frank gives him a nod and begins to walk away, so Jason quickly grabs Franks arm and turns him back around. For a second, Jason is intimidated. Frank’s muscles, and jawline, the couple inches he has on Jason all kind of connect in that moment, and Jason lets go of his arm quickly.

“Uh one more thing.”

Frank furrows his brows, but stays in his spot.

“Are you planning on asking Hazel to homecoming?”

And there goes all the intimidation. Frank's position doesn’t change, but he seems to shrinks ten sizes.

“I- I don’t know.” He says, scratching the back of his neck. “I’ve honestly been avoiding thinking about it.”

“Why?”

Frank shrugs. “I don’t know, man. It’s just easier. I get kind of stressed and nervous easily, so that doesn’t bode well for asking out girls.”

“But you know she likes you.” Jason says pointedly, and Frank gets a soft smile on his face. “And you like her.”

“How can you not like Hazel?” He asks, and Jason smiles.

“You can’t.” Jason agrees, “but that’s why you should ask her.”

Franks looks down at the floor, scuffing his shoes against the ground.

“I mean what other girl is going to play chess with you at a party?”

Frank laughs. “Chess is fun.”

“I know, but sometimes you have to read the room.”

Frank rolls his eyes. “You really think I should?”

Jason nods. “Because if you don’t, she’s going to get fed up and ask you.” He informs him. “And just between you and me, she likes you enough to do that, but I know she really wants to get asked. Old fashioned girl, you know?”

Frank nods. “I know. I’ll think about it.”

Jason smiles, and pats Frank on the arm. “All I can ask.”

Frank gives him one more smile before jetting off to third period, and Jason does the same.

*

The rest of the day for Jason is just going through the motions. He takes notes, pays attention, and does everything he's supposed to, but even in Jason’s one track mind, he’s got a little room that allows him to think about his date tonight. He knows he has to stop by for wrestling and everything that entails, but right after that’s done he’s heading home, taking a quick shower, and going on his date. He gathers all of his stuff up and follows his directions from Frank to where Coach Hedge’s office should be. It’s there, but Jason wouldn’t call it an office, really. It looks more like a broom closet they repurposed, and shoved a desk into. Jason ducks his head as he enters, and knocks slightly on the open door, to signal the attention of Coach, who currently had his head in a filing cabinet. As Jason knocks, Coach Hedge jumps, smacking his head against the top of the filing cabinet. Jason winces, and immediately drops his backpack and commandeers his way around the sheer amount of things shoved into such a small room.

“Sorry coach, didn’t mean to scare you.”

Jason says, shuffling up some of the papers on the floor. Coach Hedge raises his head, and his face goes from disoriented to ecstatic in seconds.

“Never apologize, Mr. Grace.” He grins, slapping Jason on the back. Jason assumes this will be a common occurrence. “The only thing I fear is fear itself.”

He lets out a hearty laugh, and scampers off to his desk. Jason follow him and sets the papers in front of him, before taking a seat on the stool on the other side.

“So.” He says, kicking his short legs up into the desk. “You’ve decided.”

“Uh yeah, I think I want to try out wrestling.” Jason says, with a smile. “If you’ll have me.”

“Have you? Jason I will make the other team members kiss the ground you walk on, if you join my team.”

“That’s really not necessary.” Jason insists, quickly. “I’ve also never done it before, so don’t put all your faith in me yet. I have to prove myself.”

Coach Hedge leans back in his seat, a satisfied grin on his face.

“And you will.” He assures, Jason. “Follow me. We’ve got practice until 5, you can borrow some sweats and just try it out with some of the guys.”

He starts gathering up a clipboard and a whistle, and Jason follows suit easily grabbing his backpack, and stepping out of the musty office. Coach Hedge emerges a second later, wincing.

“It’s a lot brighter out here, isn’t it?” He asks, and Jason assumes it’s rhetorical, as Coach Hedge simply starts walking off in the other direction. Jason trails after him, and they head up the stairs until he traipses into a very hot room with big mats and about ten guys and three girls in tank tops and sweatpants.

“Attention Cupcakes!” Coach Hedge hell’s, alerting absolutely everyone of his presence. “This is Jason Grace. Today we’re going to be testing if he is fit to join our team. Would anyone be willing to borrow Jason clothes? If not, I will pull something from the trunk.”

“I’ve got some, Coach.”

“Thank you Beckendorf!”

The guy who offered, jogs over to his bag on the sidelines and produces the exact outfit everyone else has on, before running it over to Jason.

“Never let him give you anything from the trunk.”

Jason takes the clothes with a smile. “Thanks dude.”

Jason quickly runs to the bathroom and changes, before returning with his clothes in a pile, and his glasses set directly on top of them.

Coach Hedge hurries him into a line up with the others, and he is immediately matched with a guy about his height and build. Coach Hedge allows the others to go at it, but comes to Jason and his partner to walk Jason through what he’ll be doing, which Jason appreciates. He’s confident that if he wasn’t instructed how to do these moves, he would’ve been knocked out in seconds. They take about an hour just catching Jason up to speed, and thankfully he’s got a pretty good memory, so most of it sticks as they go through the motions. His partner is incredibly patient, especially with Coach Hedge breathing down his neck the entire time.

“Alright, Grace.” Coach Hedge says, clapping his hands together. “Do you think you can handle trying some on your own?”  
Jason wipes the sheen off his forehead and nods. “I think so.”

“Alright, get into your positions.” Hedge orders, and they do, standing across from each other, ready to begin. “Don’t get too wild, because we’re not wearing our headgear, and Jason,” he says, pulling Jason’s attention to him for a second. “Don’t feel bad if it’s over quickly. It’s your first day.”  
Jason nods, before turning his head back to his opponent, and his brain focuses completely in on him. Coach Hedge blows his whistle, and Jason doesn’t know what comes over him, but the second his opponent advances towards him, Jason goes into this mode of primal instinct. He surges forward, and wraps his arms around the other guys’ waist, before rolling him over his shoulder and pinning him to the ground. Jason presses his wrist into the mat and places a knee on his chest, so he doesn’t move, before looking back up at Coach Hedge, whose whistle had dropped out of his mouth and onto the floor. Jason immediately becomes self-conscious over the coach’s surprised gaze, and quickly backs off the guy.

“Was that okay?” he asks, and Coach Hedge snaps his jaw shut and nods furiously.   
“Was that okay???? It was more than okay!” Coach yells, tossing his clipboard on the floor alongside his whistle. “Where the hell did that come from?”

And then everyone in the entire room is looking at Jason and he feels even more sweaty than he was before.

“I’m… not sure.” Jason says, scratching his head. “I just did what you told me to. That’s how it was supposed to look, right?”

“Yeah, man. That was perfect.” his partner says, getting up from the floor. “Just surprising.”

“Wanna go again?” Jason asks, and his partner nods.

“I bet that was beginner’s luck.”

Jason chuckles a little, and the two of them get back into positions. Coach Hedge is still in a state of shock, so Beckendorf and the rest of the group head over to watch, and count down from three. The second it’s time to go, the same thing happens. Jason lets his senses take over, and in seconds, he’s got his opponent pinned down on the mat.   
Beckendorf lets out a low whistle. “Wow.”

“Okay, maybe it wasn’t beginner’s luck.”

“Maybe he’s in a different weight class than he looks?” someone suggests. “That could be why he’s doing it so easily.”

Beckendorf furrows his brows. “But I think it’s the moves and the technique he’s doing rather than just strength.”

“I’ll go against him.”

Everyone’s heads turns to look at the girl in the corner. She’s almost Jason’s height, and her arms are probably about the size of his too. The difference between her and Jason is that she looks mean. She looks like, if she wanted to, she could rip out Jason’s throat with her teeth, and Jason is getting increasingly worried she might want to. Jason gives Beckendorf a nervous look, and Beckendorf laughs.   
“Why not? Show him what you’ve got, Clarisse.”   
She steps onto the mat, and Jason is intimidated, but he’s been intimidated before, and that doesn’t stop him. The count down occurs once again, and then it begins. Jason can immediately tell that Clarisse is a more experienced wrestler than his first opponent. She has the rage, and fire that pushes her at him with lunges, and strikes, but Jason can tell that behind each move is a calculated path to success. It throws him off for about a minute, but then Jason figures out her patterns, and is able to send a blow to her knee, and tackle her to the ground. She looks exceedingly surprised when Jason makes eye contact with her.

“Jesus christ.” she says, shoving Jason off of her. She stands up and brushes herself off. “Where did we find this one?”  
They all look to Jason, who shrugs. “Boarding school?”

“Did you beat people up at boarding school?”

His blood runs cold. “No.” he says, quickly. “Why would you ask me that?”  
She shrugs back. “Trying to figure out where you learned to fight.”

“It doesn’t matter where he learned, it matters that he’s on our team, and we’re definitely going to win this season.”

“Whatever.”  
Clarisse returns to her old opponent, and Beckendorf ushers everyone else away, leaving only him and Jason on the mat.   
“Ignore them.” he tells Jason, “They’re not used to people having natural talent.”

Jason nods, but he doesn’t really know what to say to Beckendorf. He doesn’t like all the attention he’s getting, he doesn’t know what to do with himself. “I’ll try.”  
“You’re really good.” Beckendorf offers. “You shouldn’t be embarrassed.”

“I’m not.”

“Okay, cool.” Beckendorf says with another laugh. “Then how about you go against me for the rest of the time?”

Jason relaxes a little bit. Beckendorf is cool and nice, so Jason feels more comfortable with him than anyone else on the team.

They go at it, and every single time, without fail, Jason manages to pin Beckendorf down on the mat. There’s pushback, which he likes a lot better than just decking someone, but still each time Jason wins.

“I haven’t been on the mat this much since I was a freshman.” Beckendorf recalls, as Jason helps him up. “Glad I have someone to keep me on my toes now. How sad would it be if I plateaued my senior year?”  
Jason chuckles. “I think there are worse things in the world.”

Beckendorf shakes his head, a smile on his face. “Yeah, you’re right about that.”

At this point, Coach Hedge had relaxed back into a chair on the edge of the mat, and is gently snoring, so Beckendorf decides to adjourn the practice.   
“Does this usually happen to him?” Jason asks, as he and Beckendorf are grabbing their backpacks.   
Beckendorf thinks about it for a second. “Not usually this bad, but yeah there’s always a variation of this ending.”

Jason laughs, as he thinks about what Coach Hedge is like at actual wrestling meets, and how much more his behavior is probably amplified. Beckendorf starts walking out and Jason quickly realizes--

“Hey dude, your clothes!”

Beckendorf looks over his shoulder and grins. “They’re yours now, man. Welcome to the team.”

*

Jason decides to stop at his locker and grab some of his books for homework after practice, and only as he reaches up to grab said book does he realize just how gross and sweaty he is. He slips his glasses on, and checks his watch, which told him it was just past five. He’s glad he’ll have enough time to shower because seeing Piper in his current state would be not good. He slams his locker door, and runs entirely into someone, knocking everything that was in their hands to the floor. Jason hurriedly crouches down to pick up the stuff, all the while profusely apologizing.

“It’s fine, Jason.”

He looks up to see Piper, looking at him with amusement.

“Oh, I didn’t realize it was you, oh Piper, I’m sorry.”

“Stop apologizing.” she giggles, taking the last of her rolls of streamers and papers from Jason.   
“Permission to give one more apology?”   
She wrinkles her nose. “Go for it.”

“I’m so sorry you had to run into me when I’m gross.” he says, “I promise in one hour I will look much better.”

She laughs, and reaches out to put her hand on his chest. “Don’t worry about it. Gross works for you.”  
Jason gives her a stupid grin. “Don’t flatter me.”

She smiles at him. “You’re still getting me at 6?”

He nods. “I’ll be there.”  
“Perfect. I’ll see you then.”   
“Can’t wait.”   
*

When Jason pulls up to Piper’s house, part of him thinks he should just text her that he’s outside, but the bigger part of him tugs himself out of the car and walks himself to her front door. And her front door is massive. Like Jason knows Piper’s dad is a movie star and everything, but it’s still surreal pulling up to a mansion and waiting on the doorstep. He convinces himself not to be nervous. Piper saw him post-wrestling practice and still liked him, so when she sees him actually trying to look nice he assumes it can only improve from there. He knocks on the door right at six, and he hears the clapping of shoes down stairs, and some muttered conversation, before Piper opens the door, looking as pretty as she always does.

“Hi.”

“Hi.”

“Ready to go?”

She nods, before turning back into the house and yelling: “Dad, I’m leaving.”  
“Have fun, Pipes.”

She shuts the door behind her and turns to Jason who is giving her a small smile.

“Pipes?”  
“It’s just a nickname, Jason.”

“A cute nickname.”

She blushes, and the two of them head down the stairs. Jason jogs ahead of her and opens up her car door, and she rolls her eyes as she steps inside and takes a seat. He makes it to the other side, and just like that they’re off and running.

“How was your day?” Jason asks, as he pulls out onto the street.

“Good! I had homecoming committee meeting after school, and we basically figured out all of the decorations so I’m super happy about that.”

“Oh awesome.” he says, glancing over at her. “What was the theme again?”

“A night under the stars.” she tells him. "Not very original, but I think it'll look nice."

They continue small talk, and it’s not long before they park at the restaurant. Piper comments that although she’s lived about five minutes away from the restaurant her entire life, she’s never been there.   
“Well then it’ll be a first time for both of us!”

They get seated quickly, and Jason picks up his menu, but he’s not really reading it. He’s more trying to think of things to say so there isn’t a lull in the conversation. He really wants this to go well, so he hopes that Piper isn’t noticing his brain scrambling.

“Jason.” she says, setting down her menu. He sets his down too, and waits for her to continue. “I really don’t know much about you.”

That’s probably true. Jason is not great at opening up and sharing things, but he wants to be better. “Well we can change that, now.” he says, confidently. “What do you want to know?”  
“Lots of things.” she says, folding her hands into her lap. “Favorite color?”

“Purple.”

“Favorite movie?”

He makes a face. “I don’t think I have one.”  
“Favorite food?”

Jason is about to answer, but Piper cuts him off. “Oh wait I remember! Brownies.”

He chuckles. Correct.”  
She continues to ask him these trivial questions, until their waiter comes around. The waiter brings them both water, and takes their food orders, and Jason stops Piper before she can dive back into questioning him once again.

“Why do you get to learn all this stuff about me but I get to learn nothing about you?”

She blushes. “Sorry. Your turn.”

“Okay.” Jason thinks on it for a second before asking: “What is your saddest memory?”

Piper can’t help but laugh. “Oh my god Jason, way to harsh the mood! What kind of transition is that? I asked you your favorite color and now you’re asking me my saddest memory?”  
“I don’t know!” he says, “ I really don’t know how to do, uh, this.”

Piper’s face softens. “I don’t either.” she tells him. “I’ve never really been on a real date before.”

Jason cannot believe that people weren’t lining up to be with Piper, but he doesn’t question her.

“Okay, saddest memory, that’s a hard one.”

“No, you don’t have to answer that.”

She puts a finger up to silence him. “I’m going to answer, I just need a second to think.”

She thinks for a second, tugging her bottom lip between her teeth.   
“I don’t know if I can think of one specific memory.” she says, “but I guess when I was younger I would get bullied a lot. Where I went to school for elementary and middle school wasn’t the fondest of Native people, so I would go to school and hear racial slurs, and just other offensive stuff. And it would make me sad because when I would see my dad interacting with other people, he would face the same things. Just the fact that it wasn’t just a kids being mean, but everyone in that area had such a negative and hurtful way of living life, made me really sad.”

That makes Jason’s heart ache. People who go through life lacking compassion and empathy for those who are different than them are people Jason cannot stand. He hates that Piper and her father had to experience that.

“That’s awful.” he says, but he can tell she doesn’t want sympathy. “But to me it seems like both you and your dad came out the other end stronger. And by fighting against that stuff in all the ways you do is really really cool, Piper.”

“Thanks Jason.”

And he knows he’s staring at her a little too long with that fond look on his face when she says, “Next question.”

“Okay! Why did you choose to go vegetarian?”  
“All of your questions are making mine look stupid!”

“No they’re not.”  
“Yes they are.” she insists. “Yours are so introspective and interesting, and mine were just simple stuff.”   
“But you wear your heart on your sleeve.” Jason tells Piper. “I already know the simple stuff about you. I’m a lot less open about myself so that’s why it’s good for you to get to know the little things.”

She gives in, but still has a smile on her lips. “Fine. My dad drove us by a meat processing plant when I was younger, and I couldn’t stand the smell. That was enough to turn me.”  
“Really?”

“Really.”  
*

The food arrives soon after, and Jason is feeling so incredibly relaxed. He thinks it’s going really well. The conversation flows pretty easily, and Jason really likes giving all of his attention to Piper. He likes to think of himself as a very good listener, and listening to her talk about herself and things that she’s passionate about is quite enjoyable for him.

“This is so good, but I’m so full.” Piper moans, tossing her head back. Jason chuckles.   
“You can get it in a box.”

She opens one eye and giggles at him. “Oh yeah. Forgot about that.”  
They flag down the waiter and secure two boxes, and Jason is genuinely sad the date is ending. It went by so quickly. The waiter returns with boxes, as well as the bill. The second it’s on the table, both Piper and Jason reach for it, but Jason is quicker.

“Let me split.”  
“Definitely not.”

“Jason.” she says, with a pout. “I don’t want you to pay for me.”  
“But I asked you out!”

“So?”

He sighs. “What about you get next time?”

She raises an eyebrow, and Jason gets nervous.   
“I mean- assuming there will be a next time.”   
She rolls her eyes. “Of course there’s going to be a next time.”   
He chuckles a little, trying his best to ignore the tips of his ears flushing red.   
“Good.” he says, pulling out his wallet and placing the cash down on the receipt, as well as a tip in the middle of the table. The waiter picks their things up, and he and Piper head out of the restaurant, shoulder to shoulder.

“You know,” Jason says, “if you weren’t holding that box, I might even gather the courage to hold your hand.”  
She glances at him, and easily shifts her box to the hand further away from Jason, before slipping her hand into his. He squeezes her hand lightly, and she leans closer into his arm as they make it towards the car. It’s a short walk, but Jason is content with getting to hold Piper’s hand at all.

They drive home in a comfortable silence, and when they pull up to Piper’s house, Jason does not hesitate to hop out and walk her to the door.

“You’re so chivalrous.” she comments.

“I try.”

They make it to the door, and Jason is searching for the right thing to do and the right thing to say to bring this night to a close.   
“I had a really good time.” he says, going for simple and genuine.

“I did too.” she smiles. “I’m free this weekend, if you want to do it again?”

“Yes.” Jason says, probably a little too quickly, but he doesn’t care. “I’d love that. Text me the details and we can figure it out.”  
“I will.”   
And Jason thinks he should hug her or do something else like that, but his nerves get the better of him.

“Alright. Well, good night Piper.” he says. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”  
He stands for a second, and furrows his brows as Piper doesn’t answer. She simply sets her box down on the ground before taking a couple of steps closer to Jason. Before he can ask what she’s doing, she slips her hand around the back of his neck, and _oh._ That’s what she’s doing. Jason isn’t that clueless, so he quickly raise a hand to cup Piper’s cheek, and meets her in a soft, kiss. She tastes sweet. It’s over as soon as it began, and Piper steps back and grabs her box, a soft blush forming over the bridge of her nose.   
“Good night.”

She disappears into her house, and Jason does a silent victory dance, complete with jumping and air punching, before heading back to his car, and heading home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Back again with another chapter!  
> I really liked writing this one! I think Piper and Jason are so sweet and I really like getting to write about their dynamic, which I hope will unfold as the story progresses. As you can probably tell, this kind of section of the plot is leading up to homecoming, which will be in the next couple of chapters, which I for one am super excited about. I hope all of you continue to read the story and enjoy, and I just want to thank everyone again for all the crazy nice comments -- they make my day. 
> 
> Hope to update again soon!


	7. “JASON AND PIPER WENT ON A DATE LAST NIGHT”

The next morning when Jason got up, the last thing he expected was seeing the notification on his phone, stating:

_Percy renamed the chat “JASON AND PIPER WENT ON A DATE LAST NIGHT”_

Followed by a string of texts.

**Percy**

_Fools_

**Percy**

_You thought we wouldn’t find out_

**Percy**

_Nothing can be kept a secret from the group chat_

**Nico**

_You only found out because I told you_

**Nico**

_And as far as I’m aware this isn’t a secret? People just don’t care enough to tell you stuff, P._

**Annabeth**

_Accurate._

**Percy**

_I’m just happy for my children and I wanted everyone else to be happy too._

 

Jason rolls his eyes, and quickly types up a text. As much embarrassed as he is that his personal relations are on display, it’s not a big deal. Especially if him and Piper continue seeing each other, and eventually start dating.

 

**Jason**

_Wasn’t a secret._

**Nico**

_Told you, Percy._

**Piper**

_And we’re going on another date this weekend, does the group chat need to know about that too? Maybe I’ll tell you the place so all of you can sit outside with little binoculars and spy on us._

 

Jason chuckles at that. Piper can get snarky when she wants to be and he loves it. It reminds him of his sister.

 _  
_ **Percy**

_Damn, I don’t have any binoculars on hand_

**Percy**

_Good thing Grover has like ten pairs_

**Reyna**

_Fun idea: We leave Jason and Piper alone_

**Leo**

_Idk if we’re capable_

**Nico**

_Hey they joined the group chat willingly._

**Nico**

_Everybody knows thats the same thing as selling your soul. This shit is like a blood pact._

 

Now Jason isn’t sure about all that, but he’s realized that now that he has a group of friends, people genuinely care what he does with his time and who he spends it with, this will become more normal. Especially with friends as connected and overbearing as the ones he has now.

 

_Jason renamed the chat “Definitely not a cult”_

 

**Will**

_LMAO_

**Nico**

_@Jason when did u get funny_

 

Jason laughs to himself as he starts getting ready for the day.

 

**Jason**

_Pretty recently. It surprised me too._

**Piper**

_Jason’s always been funny u guys just talk too much to hear him_

**Hazel**

_I just woke up what did I miss_

**Annabeth**

_Nothing important_

**Hazel**

 

_Sounds good. Glad to hear we're definitely not a cult._

_*_

Jason makes it through the last day of the week easily. He and Piper experiences minimal teasing from some of their friends but Reyna always makes sure to sock Percy and Leo anytime they tried to mess with them.

 

He attends Feminist club again, and at the end he offers Piper a ride home, but once again, she has her own car. Hazel also doesn’t need a ride, because she’s heading to Football practice.

“Are you going to do it?” he asks, as the two of them walk down the hall together.

“Yeah.” she answers. “We pinky promised, and it’s the end of the week, so I’m gonna do it. I think I’ll do it after practice. He usually gives me a ride home after so I’ll it do then.”

“Are you nervous?”

She shakes her head. “Not really. Just a little disappointed.” she admits. “I wanted him to ask me.”  
Jason frowns, and tosses an arm around Hazel’s shoulders. “I know you did, Haze. I tried to talk to him, but I don’t know how much good it did. I wish I could help you more.”

“You already did enough.” she assures him. “And I’m just whining, I’m really fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Very sure.” she says, giving him a smile. “Now get home, you have to get practicing.”

“Practicing for what?”  
“Your play auditions are on Monday!” she says, and Jason’s face drops. “You forgot?”   
“Completely.” he says, with a laugh. “Thanks for reminding me, or that process would have been doubly bad.”

“That’s what I’m here for.”  
He gives her shoulder one last squeeze, and takes his arm back, turning down the other hall. Thanks, Haze. You’re the best.”

She grins, and offers him a wave. “I know.”

*

And at around 6pm, Jason gets a text from Hazel. He opens it up to reveal a picture of her and Frank, arm in arm, and in Frank’s grip is a huge poster board sign asking her to homecoming. Jason is so happy, and the text below simply reads _Thank you_.

*

 

Jason spends the remainder of Friday and most of Saturday studying Romeo and Juliet. He likes Shakespeare well enough, but he wish the guy had a pronunciation guide. He tries to make himself as familiar as possible because for Jason, processing things and thinking them through in his brain gives him the best bet at doing well in performing it. He practices a couple of Romeo’s lines but he quickly realizes how embarrassing it is after his mom walks in on him professing his undying love to himself in the mirror. When he finally puts pause on the theatre practice, he takes a seat at his desk and checks his phone.

 

**Piper**

_Are you busy tonight?_

He smiles before responding.

**Jason**

_Completely free._

**Piper**

_Awesome!_

**Piper**

_Would you want to come over and watch a movie or something? You said you didn’t have a favorite so I think it would be fun to try and find you one!_

**Jason**

_Sounds fun! What time should I be there?_

**Piper**

_7?_

**Jason**

_I’ll be there_

 

Jason spends about half his remaining time debating whether or not he should wear his glasses. He’s nearsighted, so he technically only needs them to see things that are pretty far away, so sitting on Piper’s couch and watching movies won’t make them necessary. On the other hand, he’s grown accustomed to them, he even _likes_ wearing them. But on the other OTHER hand, he knows he probably looks better without his glasses. Less of a nerd. So, he stress calls Leo because what else was he going to do with a predicament like this. Leo doesn’t answer his first three calls, but thankfully call number four is the one that goes through.

“My man.” Leo says, happily. “What’s up?”

“Well first of all, I’m pretty sure you need to get your hearing checked.” Jason says, with a laugh. “This is call number four, dude.”  
Leo snorts. “Sorry. I was helping mom in the garage.”

Jason rolls his eyes. “It’s fine. This really isn’t important anyway, but for tonight, glasses or no glasses?”  
“What’s tonight?”

“My date.”

“No glasses.” he says, automatically.

Jason bites his lip. “Give me a reason.”  
“Better chance of making out with Piper when there’s no glasses to take off.”

Yeah, okay. Jason is sold on leaving the glasses at home tonight.

“Cool. Thanks man.”

Jason is about to hang up when Leo says “Wait-”

“What?”  
Leo’s quiet for a couple of seconds. “Should I ask Reyna to homecoming?”   
“Do you want to?”   
Quiet again. “Kind of.”   
Jason furrows his brows. He doesn’t really know what Leo’s getting at with this. Leo sighs on the other end.   
“Honestly, I just don’t want to be the only one in the group without a date, and that’s how it’s shaping up.”   
Jason feels bad. He hates it when people feel sad, especially when it’s Leo. He wishes that homecoming wasn’t such a big deal to everyone. In terms of going alone or with a date. Part of him wishes they were all just going in a big group, so no one would feel left out.

“We can go together!” Jason suggests. “I mean, I haven’t asked Piper, so the three of us could go as a group.”  
“Thanks dude, but I don’t really want third wheel you and beauty queen all night.”

“I get that. But the offer will stand as long as you want it to.”  
“Thanks, Superman.”

*

So Jason decides no glasses. He wears the in the car on his drive to Piper’s, but the second he parks, he puts them in their case and shoves them into the glove compartment for safekeeping. He walks the familiar path up to the front door, and knocks, fully expecting Piper to answer. But when the door opens, and Jason is eye to eye with a very attractive man. Jason really never expected Tristan McLean to answer the door. Piper said he was almost always busy working on movies or meeting with agents, so his time to relax at home with her is scarce. He smiles, and his eyes crinkle when he sees Jason.   
“Jason, I presume?” he asks, leaning against the door frame.

Jason clears his throat, and nods. “Yeah, that’s me.” He immediately sticks out his hand. “Nice to meet you Mr. McLean. Tristan wrinkles his nose and pushes Jason’s hand away.

“What’s with the formalities?” he asks, pulling Jason in for a hug. “Pipes likes you, and that makes you good in my book. And please call me Tristan, makes me sound less old.”

Jason chuckles. “You couldn’t seem old if you tried.” And it was true. Tristan, probably in his 40s or 50s looked so youthful and handsome. Meeting him, it is so easy for Jason to see Piper in him. They’re so alike in that laid back beautiful way about them.

Tristan grins. “Too kind.” he says, leading Jason into the house. Jason steps in, and it’s almost more impressive inside. Tristan heads over to the stairs, and yells up to Piper.

“Pipes, your boy is here.”

“Coming!” she yells back. A second later, Piper appears at the top of the stairs, a smile on her face. “Hi Jason.”

“Hey.”  
“You can come on up.” she tells him. “I have everything set up in my room.”

Oh. They’re watching in her room. Jason can’t lie, that intimidates him a little bit. Don’t get him wrong, he’s been in a girls room before, but not a girl that he liked nearly as much as he likes Piper.

“Keep the door open, Piper.” Tristan instructs, a little smile on his mouth. “And no sleep overs just yet.”  
Jason’s face flushes completely red.

“Oh my god dad.” Piper whines, “We’re just watching a movie.”

Tristan chuckles. “Just teasing, Pipes.”

Piper rolls her eyes, and motions Jason up the stairs again.

“Thank you for having me.” he says, quickly to Tristan, before heading up the stairs to meet Piper. She slips her hand into his and leads him to her bedroom, which, compared to the rest of the house, is much more modest. It screams of her. The walls are just plain white, but littered with poems and magazines and posters. Her bed is simple, but a lot bigger than Jason's, and facing across from a large tv settled on a shelf.

“So, this is my room.” she says, a little shyly. “And I have a bunch of movies that you can pick from.”

She tugs him over to the shelf and drops his hand to kneel down in front of the stacks of movies. Jason kneels down beside her, and gazes out at the stacks of movies.

“Any of these have your dad in them?” Jason asks, a grin playing on his lips.

Piper smacks him in the arm. “We are definitely not watching a movie that has my dad in it.”

Jason laughs. “Why not?”  
“Mood killer.”   
“Oh I think he would just add to the ambiance.”   
“He’s right downstairs.” she says, “Do you want to go hang out with him instead of me?”   
“No, I don’t.” he says, slipping his arm around Piper’s shoulders.

She bites down on her lip and leans into him a little more.   
“So what’re we watching?” she asks.

Jason scans the shelves. He hasn’t seen most of them, so he decides to just pick a random title.

“Air Bud?”

Piper laughs. “What an odd choice.”  
Jason wrinkles his nose. “I haven’t seen it.”

Her eyes brighten up. “Really? It’s like my childhood.”

He grabs it from the shelf. “It’s got a dog, so it looks promising.”

Piper laughs. “You’ll like it. He plays sports.”

“He plays _sports_?”

*

Long story short, Air Bud is probably the best movie Jason’s ever seen. It’s just so fun and sweet! Them having Christmas and choosing to keep the dog, and all the hilariously bad sports sequences just make Jason feel so happy. It makes him even happier that he gets to watch it with Piper, who finds it just as charming as he does. About halfway through the movie, she scoots in a little closer and leans her head onto Jason’s shoulder, which makes him feel warm. She tentatively sets her hand on his chest, and Jason isn’t protesting. He just feels so automatically comfortable with Piper. He feels like he’s known her for months. Being a kid’s movie, it’s pretty short, and when it ends Jason is almost sad. He knows this probably wasn’t the best date movie he could have picked, but Piper seemed to enjoy it all the same.

“Did you like it?” Piper asks, glancing up at him.

Jason nods. “Best movie ever.”

Piper laughs. “Wait till I tell you there’s four sequels and a spinoff series about his puppies.”

And Jason isn’t sure this night can get any better.

*

Their second movie of the night is Piper’s pick. She slips out of the bed and leans down to her bedside table. Jason rolls over so his head is poking out over her bed.

“Why do you have a secret movie drawer?” he asks. “Why didn’t I get to pick from there?”  
She ignores him, and pulls a movie out to go put in. “These are my favorite movies.”

Jason smiles, and relaxes back into his spot from before. Well, he might’ve taken up a little more room, because he likes it when Piper is close to him. She puts in the movie and returns to her spot beside Jason. The menu appears on the screen.

“Sixteen candles?”

She sighs. “I know it’s bad, and old, and probably a little offensive, but I love it.”

“Good enough for me.”

They watch it through, and it’s a pretty sweet movie. Piper tells Jason it’s from the 80’s so a lot of the jokes and clothes are out of date. She also tells him that he’s like Jake Ryan, which is a sweet compliment from her.   
“I’ve always had a crush on him.” she tells Jason. “Looks like I have a type.”

Jason chuckles, and without even thinking he slips a finger under her chin, and brings her in for a soft peck.

“You flatter me too much, Pipes.” He can’t stop himself, as the nickname rolls off his tongue.

She bites down on her lip, before leaning back in and connecting their lips again. It’s longer this time. Her hand slides around his waist, as she moves to be closer to him.

*

Jason is incredibly thankful he didn’t wear his glasses, because they barely tear themselves from each other, to watch the end of sixteen candles. And after that, Piper puts in a third movie, and immediately resumes kissing Jason. Jason tunes out the rest of the world as he slips his tongue into Piper’s mouth, and pulls her closer against him. It’s not sexually charged at all. There’s this feeling of familiarity. Kissing Piper makes him feel like he’s filling up with honey. It’s slow, and languid, and so comfortable. His hand rests at her waist, fingers running softly over the curves of her hips, as he presses deeper into her kiss. Jason almost forgets that there’s a world outside Piper’s room, until a loud knock comes on Piper’s door. Jason and Piper jump apart just as Tristan peeks his head in. He has a knowing smile on his face, but thankfully doesn’t comment on what he knows was just happening.   
“It’s getting pretty late, so I’m going to bed.” Tristan says. “I don’t know how much longer you were planning on staying Jason, but-”   
Getting the hint, Jason cuts him off. “No, yeah, I should probably be heading home soon, as well.”

He self-consciously wipes his mouth on the back of his hand, fearing the sheen of Piper’s lip gloss would give them away more than they probably already have.

“Well it was nice meeting you, Jason.” Tristan says. “Good night Piper.”  
“Night, dad.”

The second they’re sure Tristan is out of earshot, both Jason and Piper burst out laughing.

“Well.” Jason says, running a hand through his hair. “I guess there goes any belief that we were being discreet.”

Piper giggles. “It’s not your fault. I’ve never brought a guy over before, so my dad was hovering.”  
Jason chuckles too. “He’s right though, it is late. I should get going.”   
“I’ll walk you out.”

They head down the stairs, and as promised, Piper walks him to the door. He steps out onto the front steps, and quickly leans back in to give Piper a kiss.

“So I’ll see you Monday?” he asks, pulling back from her. She nods.

“Bright and early.”

He smiles. “Next night I’m free is Wednesday if you wanted to maybe do something.”

She thinks for a second. “I could probably make that work.”

“Awesome.”  
And Jason makes sure to give her one more kiss before heading home for the night.

*

After his date, the rest of the weekend is uneventful to say the least. He simply resumes his Romeo and Juliet studying, so come Monday morning, Jason is about as prepared as he’ll ever be. In homeroom, Hazel passes him her phone, and forces him to put in headphones. She clicks onto a video, and presses play, and the second it starts Jason’s face lights up.

“Hi Jason.” Piper says to the camera. “We know you’re worried about having to audition for the play, so I got everyone to make this little good luck video for you!”

Jason’s heart melts a little. Why is Piper so sweet to him?

“So, here’s my good luck to kick things off. I know you’ll do great, so don’t be nervous and don’t overthink it!” She blows him a kiss, and then the next video starts to reveal Annabeth, Percy and Grover. This specific video includes a lot of overlapping talking, mostly Percy talking over the other too, but it’s a sweet sentiment. Annabeth finally takes the phone for herself, and tells Jason that he’s probably the most familiar with Shakespeare so that’s a plus for him. The next two are Frank and Will Solace who are both separately accosted by Piper to congratulate Jason, which makes him laugh, because these guys probably know him the least out of anyone, but they are enthusiastic nonetheless. And then it’s Nico and Reyna.

“What is this for again?” Nico asks, to Piper behind the camera.

“We’re wishing Jason good luck for auditioning for the play.” Off camera Piper whispers, and Jason laughs at that.

“Good luck Jason.” Reyna says, offering him a huge smile. “Or break a leg, I guess.”

Piper swerves the camera back to Nico who rolls his eyes. “What am I supposed to say?”  
Reyna elbows him “Words of encouragement, you dumbass.”   
Nico scowls at her, before turning back to the camera. “Uh, good luck, Grace. You’ve got this.”   
Jason smiles softly, and the video switches once more, to Leo and Hazel, which just wamrs Jason’s heart.

“Now listen dude, we know you’re probably a shitty actor-”

Hazel bursts out laughing, but quickly covers it up by smacking Leo upside the head.

“We’re supposed to be nice.”  
“I was! You didn’t let me finish!”

“Fine.”  
“As I was saying” Leo begins once again, “We know your probably a shitty actor, but I still believe you can make these auditions your bitch.”   
“Oh my god, that was not better.”   
Leo laughs, and Hazel laughs too, and Jason’s smile only grows watching them.

“Bottom line Jason.” Hazel says, tossing her arm around Leo’s shoulder. “We love you, and we hope your audition goes well.”

Leo nods. “Just go out there and release your inner Chris Hemsworth.”

“Exactly.”  
The video ends, and Jason feels like he could cry with happiness at how much he enjoyed that video.

“Can you send that to me?” he asks Hazel, and she smiles warmly at him.

“Already in your inbox.”

“Why are you guys so nice?” he asks, genuinely. “Like this play audition is so irrelevant, but you guys made it a whole thing because I was nervous.”

Hazel shrugs. “That’s just the kind of people that or friends group is.”

Jason can’t help himself in tackling Hazel into a hug as best he could while both of them were sitting down, and after watching that video he’s so ready to walk into the audition and nail it.

*

Well, Jason definitely bombed his audition. He tripped over his one feet, and stumbled through lines, but he had fun. And honestly, he could care less about the outcome of the casting knowing that he has such good friends who will like him even with his terrible _terrible_ acting skills.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everybody! Here's a new chapter for ya!  
> I wanted all of this stuff to be included in this chapter because I think it's important for plot development, so I hope it doesn't seem way too jumpy/all over the place!  
> I'm so so so excited to write the homecoming chapter which I think will be the chapter after the next, so I hope you all are excited as well!  
> Thank you again for reading and enjoying -- I love reading your comments they make me so happy!!  
> New chapter will be up in the next couple of days


	8. Too bad he’s gay.

“How long does it take Leo to get ready?” Jason asks, honking his horn one more time.

“We were still at school, and he’s been home for two hours.”

Hazel laughs. “You weren’t expecting this? This is so on brand.”  
Jason rolls his eyes. “All I know is this proves I could’ve taken gone home, taken a shower, and picked you up in the time we’ve been waiting out here.”

Hazel sighs and leans over, honking Jason’s horn for him.

“LEO!” she yells out the window. “THE STORE IS GONNA CLOSE IF YOU DON’T HURRY UP.”

Over the past fifteen minutes, they’ve been able to catch glimpses of Leo bounding past windows, and pulling on clothes, grabbing his wallet, and making Hazel and Jason tired just watching him. Finally, Leo opens up the door, and takes his sweet time strolling down the walkway leading down to the sidewalk.

“Unbelievable.”

Leo slides into the backseat, and Jason quickly puts the car into drive, and pulls out onto the street.  
“Do you want to look good for homecoming or not?”

“Uh of course I do Hazel.” Leo replies. “That’s why we’re going shopping, so we know we’ll look hot.”

“We’ve been outside your house for like twenty minutes.”  
“I was getting ready.” he says, with a shrug. Jason can’t help but laugh.

“You really need to stop encouraging him.”

“Hazel, I wish you loved me as unconditionally as Jason does. I could breathe on him and he would think it was funny.”

Jason laughs again, because yeah, Leo’s probably right about that.

“We’re getting too off topic.” Hazel says, cutting through the bromance. “So our first stop is the mall because that’s going to be the easiest place to look for all of us.”  
“What are you supposed to wear to these things?” Jason asks. “Like is a suit too much?”

Hazel thinks about it. “You could pull off a suit, Jason. But it doesn’t have to be that formal.”

“Have you guys got tickets yet?” Leo asks, sticking his head between Hazel and Jason.

Jason nods. “Yeah Piper gets free ones because y’know, she planned it.”

“Frank bought mine.”

“Can Frank buy me one, too?”

Hazel laughs. “Honestly if I asked, he probably would.”

“What happened with the Reyna thing?” Jason asks, veering into yet another homecoming related topic. Jason swears their conversations are getting even more overlapping than the group chat these days. “Did you ever ask her?”

Leo gives a hollow laugh. “Oh did I not tell you guys?”

“Tell us what?”

“I asked her and she said no.” he says, “but she had a good excuse.”

Jason immediately feels bad for his friend. He know Leo bucked up a lot to try and ask her out, so he feels for Leo, who is still ending up alone. “She’s already got a date.”

“Really?”

“Who?”

Leo gives another laugh. “Her girlfriend.”

*

Once in the mall, Jason lets Hazel take full control of the situation, dragging them from one store to the other. She makes Leo and Jason watch her try on a lot of dresses, but despite Jason’s assurances she looks pretty in every single one, she continues her search.

“Haze, my body was not built for this kind of exercise.” Leo says, dragging his feet. “I’m more of a fine motor skill kind of guy you know, hands and fingers moving, not all the big appendages.”  
“Want me to carry you?” Jason asks, half-jokingly.

“That would be lovely, Jason. Thanks.”

And that’s how Leo ends up on Jason’s back on their hike to the next store. Finally at this store, Hazel finds a dress she actually likes, and she shoves Leo into some nice dress clothes that he ends up liking too.

“I think all it needs is suspenders.”

“I agree.”

Jason decides against buying anything for himself, because he knows that he has a suit and dress shirts at home, but he does make Hazel take him to a fancier homecoming/prom shop to get something for Piper.

“Her dress is like light pink?” Jason says, scanning through his texts. “Should I get her a light pink flower then or just a color that goes with it?”

“Jason, I can guarantee you are thinking way more about this than any other guy getting his date a corsage.” Leo tells him. “And that’s out of the already small percentage of dudes getting corsages.”

“I just want it to look nice!” Jason says, “I want to give her something she’ll like.”

He scans the display, and Leo tosses an arm around.  
“I’m sure she’ll like anything you pick, big guy.” and Leo says it so genuinely, Jason believes him. He ends up going with white. It’s not a real flower, so that’s why he’s able to buy it now. He kind of like that better. Then Piper will be able to keep it rather than watch it die within a week. Finally when all three of them are content with their purchases, Jason drops everyone back at their homes and returns to the joys of math homework.

*

“Are you nervous?” Hazel asks him in class the next day. “I mean it’s only like an hour or two until you find out.”  
“I’ve bypassed all the nerves.” Jason tells her. “After the audition, I let this go from my brain, so whatever happens, I really don’t care.”

“Okay I know you’re not into this whole acting thing but this is so exciting Jason! I’m excited for you.”

“Then how about you take my place onstage?”

Hazel chuckles. “You know I can’t do that. There are costumes to be made, and I’m the one who is going to be making them.”

“I’ve always wanted to pick up sewing.”

Hazel laughs again. “Sorry you’re not getting out of this.”

Jason shrugs with a smile. “Worth a shot.” he says, nudging her. “You’ll be there today, right?”

She nods. “For about ten minutes. That’s all I could manage to get out of class for.”

“Will introductions of the crew take that long?”

“Not usually. I just don’t want to go to chemistry, so it’s unfortunate I couldn’t be out longer.”

Jason laughs at that.

*

In math, Jason’s phone vibrates. He flips it over on his desk, and is slightly amused to see Annabeth’s name lighting up his phone.

 

**Annabeth**

_You heard about Saturday?_

**Jason**

_Annabeth, you are aware I’m sitting right next to you_

 

She looks up and rolls her eyes at him.

 

**Annabeth**

_Of course I’m aware Jason. I’m also aware our teacher is a dick and he’ll yell at me if I speak_

**Jason**

_That’s fair_

**Annabeth**

_You didn’t answer my q_

**Jason**

_Saturday? I mean I’m going to the game and the dance, but something tells me there’s something else going on._

**Annabeth**

_There is. After party._

**Jason**

_Where_

**Annabeth**

_Haven’t decided that far. Probs Percy’s. It’ll be pretty lowkey, not like a rager or anything._

**Annbeth**

_Probably like the squad getting buzzed and watchin food network_

 

Jason laughs out loud but as eyes fall on him, he covers it up with a cough.

 

**Annabeth**

_Subtle._

**Jason**

_Ha sorry. Sounds fun. I’m down._

**Annabeth**

_Good. Make sure to let Piper know too._

**Jason**

_Will do._

*

After math, Jason is at the long awaited moment of finding out what role he was cast in in the play. He treks into the theatre, and is immediately redirected to a bulletin board in the adjoining hallway. Apparently they don’t just tell you what part you got, you have to go look in front of everybody. There’s a group of people clustered around the board with varying levels of emotion. There’s some of the more talented kids who look happy; Jason assumes it’s because they’ve been awarded the leading roles. Most are pretty neutral, but there is a small group of people who look particularly unhappy. Jason sees himself falling in the neutral group unless he somehow gets a lead role. That might put him in the upset group. He quickly slips his glasses on and wades through the group of people. He gets close enough and scans the list, before getting about halfway down and finding his name.

“Prince Escalus.” he says, a smile spreading on his face. “Not bad.”

Prince Escalus shows up in the show like three times, has almost no lines, believes in justice, and is royal. Jason personally couldn’t have asked for a better role. He knows that Hazel is going to have a field day with costumes on him, and he’s excited to see her creativity come to life for his own outfit.

When he arrives back in the theatre, the rest of his class is still filing in. What is new, is that there is a group of about 6 or 7 students sat on the stage with their director.

Jason spots Hazel sitting beside a red headed girl Jason vaguely recognizes. Probably seen her in the hall once or twice. Hazel offers him a wave, and Jason grins, settling into a spot in the audience.

Class starts soon after, with his teacher standing up from her seat to formally welcome everyone to class.

“Hi everyone, good to see you all.” she says, looking out at the group with a smile. “Today is a big day for us. Now that the cast list is up, we are officially in business for out fall play.”  
Scattered cheers and applause come from the crowd, and their teacher beams even more. Jason can literally see how proud and excited she is, and it makes him a little more excited as well.

“Today we have a lot of things to try and get through so I need everyone’s full attention. Today we’re attempting to introduce our crew, the technical side of theatre as well as get as far as we can through an initial read through. I have a stack of scripts up here so why don’t we have everyone grab one and then we’ll get started introducing the team.”

Jason heads over and grabs one, flipping through it as he heads back to his seat. He glances up at their teacher who is in the process of counting the students onstage. She has a concerned look on her face as she heads turns to Hazel. She asks her a question, and Hazel looks around with a roll of her eyes. She tells the teacher something, and the teacher nods, and heads backstage behind the curtains. A couple of seconds later she returns, Nico trailing behind her, running a hand through his black curls. He spots Jason in the crowd and acknowledges him with a nod  

“Alright.” their teacher says, clapping her hands together. “Now that I have located every member of the team, it’s time for introductions. Hazel we can start with you.”

Hazel stands up with a smile. “Hi everyone, I’m Hazel, I’m a sophomore, and I’m the lead costumer for the show.”

The red headed girl beside her stands up and waves. “Hey, I’m Rachel. I’m a senior and I’m doing sets.” she says. “I’m mostly in the painting side of it, so I’m getting help from Annabeth Chase on the building. She can’t be here at this time, but she is also part of the team.”

Jason didn’t really peg Annabeth for the theatre kind. He assumes she appreciates it to some extent, but she’s mostly building for resume building, and taking any chance to get architecture experience she can. They go through a couple more people Jason recognizes, filling out lighting, sound, and props. The last one in line is Nico. He stands up, a little awkwardly, and gives the crowd a tight smile.  
I’m Nico, and as you can probably tell, I’m not as much of a fan of being onstage as I am being backstage.”

Laughter bubbles up from around the room, and Jason is pretty taken aback. Jason wouldn’t say Nico is, unlikeable persay, more unapproachable. He also wouldn’t consider a comedian, yet everyone in the room seems to be hanging on his words. Jason guesses that this is a setting where Nico spends time around people who are more like him. Obviously Percy and Reyna are some of his best friends, but there are obvious differences between them. Percy and Reyna are sporty, and seniors, and much more open than Nico is. It seems he’s built his own little fan club here in the theatre, and Jason is actually intrigued to see Nico in what he can only describe as his natural habitat. Maybe he’ll even get Nico to like him a little more than he does now, which shouldn’t be that hard because Nico seems aggressively neutral about Jason at this point in time.

“I’m a junior.” Nico continues, reaching up to mess with the hoop in his ear. “And I’m your stage manager so I’ll mostly be hiding behind these big dark curtains, lurking and calling cues.”

As Nico sits back down, Jason can hear a group of girls behind him talking.

“He’s still so cute.” the first one whispers. “And he’s so mysterious.”

“Too bad he’s gay.”

“At least we can look at him.”

Wow. Hearing a group of theatre nerd girls openly talk about their attraction to Nico Di Angelo is something Jason honestly never anticipated. Jason glances back at Nico who is sat up against the wall on his phone. Jason cocks his head a little, studying Nico. The girls aren’t wrong. Jason isn’t blind. He knows Nico is attractive; he’s known it since the first time he saw him, but Jason is still trying to figure out where the cute part comes in. Jason thinks Nico is too closed off from him to appear cute. There’s just a lack of vulnerability, and the fact Nico kind of acts a lot older than he really is, keeps Nico from reaching cute potential in Jason’s mind. Piper’s cute, he thinks. She’s so open, and willing, and giggles so easily; she’s one of the cutest people Jason’s ever seen. Maybe if Nico giggled more, Jason would get to see that cute side of him. Jason snorts at the thought of Nico giggling, and Nico looks up from his phone to find Jason staring at him, mid-snort. Nico narrows his eyes at Jason, and Jason hardly has time to explain to Nico his winding and irrelevant through processes so he gives him an awkward wave, to which Nico responds by giving him the finger.  
Yeah okay. Jason is going to have to try even harder to get Nico to like him now.

*

**Piper**

_Did everyone make sure to vote for homecoming king and queen? The ballot closes today at lunch so if you haven’t yet, make sure to go by the table at the office!_

**Nico**

_Can you stuff the ballot box so that I win queen_

**Nico**

_Actually I take that back. I’d like the drama of it, but that would be way too many people looking at me at once_

**Piper**

_I wasn’t gonna stuff it in the first place!_

**Leo**

_Is it supposed to be a surprise when Percy wins or are we all aware thats whats gonna happen_

**Percy**

_Lmaoooooo I honestly thought the only one who had that much blind faith in me was my mom_

**Annabeth**

_We all know its coming @Leo_

**Percy**

_Dont jinx me annabeth_

**Annabeth**

_Honestly if u don't win I'm gonna stuff the ballot box myself_

**Annabeth**

_Maybe drop pigs blood on the guy who wins_

**Annabeth**

_Who knows_

**Percy**

_Wow I love you_

**Reyna**

_Also you're all aware of the post-prom party ur all required to be at right?_

**Jason**

_Can we stop at home and change before the party?_

**Percy**

_nope._

**Jason**

_Why not?_

**Piper**

_4 the aesthetic_

**Jason**

_Fair point_

**Piper**

_Ugh im SO EXCITED_

**Piper**

_Calling it right now - this is gonna be the best homecoming ever._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone!  
> Sorry this upload took a little more time! I've just finished up midterms so hopefully future uploads will be longer as well as more timely!  
> I also want to address something that totally slipped my mind when I first started this story! I got a lot of questions about the Jason/Piper and that in my tags I have Jason/Nico listed as the first pairing! For clarification, this IS first and foremost a Jasico fic! That relationship is developed later in the fic, but for the time being Jason is with Piper and Nico is "with" Will.  
> Hope that clears things up for everyone!  
> The next chapter is going to tackle the beast of homecoming from the game to the dance to the party so I'm super excited to write it, and get it uploaded for ya'll soon!
> 
> Thank you so much for all your comments they mean so much to me and I love it when you ask questions to me as well!  
> Keep reading and enjoying :)


	9. I’m lucky Jason isn’t into dudes or else I’d have a lot more competition

_Hazel renamed the chat “Frank’s #1 Fans”_

 

**Hazel**

_Woohoo!!!!! You got this Frank!!!!!_

**Piper**

_Yes!! Score all the touchdowns!_

**Frank**

_Hahaha thank you. I’m not the one who score but I appreciate the sentiment._

**Frank**

_Game is starting relatively soon -- are you guys on your way?_

**Jason**

_I’m here already!_

 

Jason wasn’t surprised he was the first one to get in the stands. He knows his friends aren’t big into football and are only coming for Frank, but Jason enjoys the sport well enough. He had been to his fair share of games at his old school, so he made sure to pack snacks, blankets, and anything else he knew his friends would probably forget about when they got ready for the game. He picked a row more towards the back of the student section just because it’s hard to save seats for a group of like eight people, so Jason tried to inconvenience as little people as possible. He’s sure he looks a little crazy sitting in the middle of many blankets and his coat and hat spread out around him to make sure he’s got enough spots for all his friends, but he couldn’t care less.

 

**Annabeth**

_Percy, Grover, and I are heading inside the stadium right now._

**Hazel**

_Reyna is driving me, Nico, and Will_

**Piper**

_Leo is supposed to be picking me up but he hasn’t shown up yet so we’ll see if I ever make it_

**Leo**

_I’m on my way geez!_

 

As promised, Percy, Annabeth, and Grover waltz in soon after the text and sit beside him. Percy chuckles as he hands Jason his hat back from the seat.   
“Thanks for saving our seats, mom.”   
Jason rolls his eyes at Percy, and Annabeth elbows Percy in the gut.

“He saved you a seat, be nice.”

“I am being nice!” Percy insists, “I love my mom.”

The continue squabbling, and Jason leans around them to greet Grover.

“Hey Grover, how’s it going?”

Grover laughs. “So good dude.” he tells Jason, “You excited for your first homecoming?”

Jason nods. “Totally. Are you excited for your last homecoming?”  
Grover gives a lazy nod. “Our costumes are going to look so good.”

Jason wrinkles his nose. “Costumes? What do you mean costumes?”

“Didn’t we tell you? Oh well. Seniors always have a theme for homecoming. So we don’t wear fancy clothes we dress up.”

“Oh cool!”

“Stop leaving us out of your conversation.” Percy says, leaning back to where Jason and Grover are talking.

Grover gives Jason a knowing glance and a roll of his eyes.

“We’re not Perce.”

“Good.”

Hazel and the rest of her car show up soon as well, with Hazel wearing Frank’s jersey that acts as a dress for her. Nico looks unhappy to be it and about this early on a Saturday but Will is making up for it by being extra excited to be here. Reyna takes the seat on the other side of Jason and the rest pile in behind him. The team is already down below them, so Hazel takes it upon herself to yell out Frank’s name. As they’re pretty far up, he doesn’t hear her, so it only take about ten seconds before every single one of them is trying to get Frank’s attention.

“Jesus, he needs to get his ears checked.” Reyna says, before yelling out once again.

Finally, after what seems like years of yelling, Frank whips his head around and everyone bursts out into a cheer. Frank grins widely and lays a hand over his heart, before offering a wave and turning back to his teammates.

“That was so anticlimactic.” Nico says, with a roll of his eyes.

“What were you expecting?”

“I was hoping for some tears.” Nico says, leaning his head into Will’s shoulder. “Maybe fanfare.”

“Frank has to focus right now.”

Soon enough the game begins. Everyone is pretty invested for the first five minutes, but that fades pretty fast. Jason and Hazel are still interested, but that’s probably because Hazel likes Frank enough, and Jason is one of the only ones who actually knows what’s going on. Every other pass, Hazel leans into his row to ask Jason what’s happening so that she can cheer and groan accordingly. Jason happily tells her each time, because how devoted Hazel is to learning about something that she doesn’t like just so she can support Frank kind of warms his heart. About halfway through the quarter, they all spot Piper stomping up the bleachers with Leo lagging along behind, a hot dog in tow. Piper climbs up on immediately sits behind Jason, setting her hands on his shoulders.

“You didn’t tell me Leo was going to take 45 minutes to pick me up.” she says simply. Jason laughs, and turns around to give her a chaste kiss.

“But he _is_ a fast driver.”

Piper laughs too. “Yeah, I thought I was going to die. I’m pretty sure he put illegal jets on that car.”

“You can’t prove anything.” Leo says, sitting down beside Piper. “The secrets of the Leomobile shan’t be revealed.”

“Shan’t?”

“You heard me.”

“Jason something's happening what is it?” Hazel asks, shaking him.  

He turns his head back to see Frank running down the field with the ball.

Jason shoots up and starts cheering for Frank, and the rest of them do as well. Jason watches intently as Frank weaves in between groups of people. He glances around, realizing he’s about to be tackled, so Frank leans up above the other team and tosses the football. Everyone watches in silence, as the football spirals through the air towards the end zone. The player in the end zone dodges the opposing team and jumps up as the ball comes hurtling down towards him.

Jason holds his breath, and time seems to slow as the football players hand reaches up to wrap around the ball. He pulls it close to his chest and lands back on the ground,  the crowd stays silent as the other players back away to reveal that Frank’s pass had successfully landed. Their side of the stadium explodes in applause at the score, and Jason knows he doesn’t have to explain to Hazel what just happened.

Over the course of the game, the teams score back and forth for the first three quarters, but by the time the game is ending, their team is in a clear lead.

“They’ve got one minute.” Reyna points out, “it’s impossible for the other team to come back.”

And she was right, because after that minute is up, their team snatches the win.

None of them try to stop Hazel as she skips down the bleachers and makes her way over to Frank to give him a huge hug.

“They’re so cute.” Piper says with a soft smile.

“Good start to the day.” Leo says, standing up and stretching. “If football was fun, imagine how good tonight is going to be.”

*

After dropping off Piper, who refused to get back in the car with Leo, Jason does a bit of homework, but most of the day is spent relaxing before getting ready for the dance. He showers, and uses some stuff in his hair before going over his glasses no glasses debate. This one is solved pretty quickly, and he blinks contacts into his eyes and looks through his closet, deciding what to wear. He hasn’t really been to a dance, but he’s assuming the suit is going to be the best move. He has one suit to his name, which is just simple and black, so he pulls that out of his closet and tosses it onto his bed, before sitting through his dress shirts. He pulls out white, a lighter pink, and a black, before snapping a picture and sending it to Piper.

**Jason**

_Which one?_

Piper replies a couple of minutes later. 

**Piper**

_Pink matches my dress :)_

Then he receives a picture of Piper, mid hair curl making a stupid face.

Jason chuckles, and gives the message a heart.

**Piper**

_Remember pictures at my house at 5, and then we’re getting dinner before the dance._

**Piper**

_And please pick up Leo on your way or else he’ll never make it to this dance._

**Jason**

_I’ve got it covered._

**Piper**

_Good. See you at 5!_

Jason moves away from his texts for a second to check the time. It was about four, so he knows he should call Leo to make sure he’s actually getting ready.

Surprisingly, Leo answers in the first ring; that’s something he’s never done before when Jason has called him.

“What’s up?”

“You answered. That’s a miracle.”

Leo laughs. “What? I have to be ready for the all the single ladies of Goode high to be falling at my feet.”

“Getting cocky aren’t we?”

“Oh no Jason. I remain cocky.”

Jason chuckles. “I just wanted to check if you’re going to be ready when I come get you in about a half an hour.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be ready by then. All I need is some hairspray and we’re golden, baby.”

“Alright, I’m gonna hold you to that.” Jason says. “4:30 sharp.”

“Roger that.”

They say their goodbyes, and Jason hangs up the phone, before finishing up his final acts of getting ready. Twenty minutes later, Jason is fully dressed, he’s got his wallet, corsage for Piper, and he slips his glasses into his pocket, because if he’s sleeping over at Percy’s, he doesn’t want another night of sleeping in his contacts.

He locks up the house and once he’s in the car he tosses his glasses in the glove compartment, and he’s on his way. When Jason arrives at Leo’s, he stifles a laugh, because Leo is currently posed on his front porch, while his mom and two other women take pictures of him and coo compliments at him. Leo notices Jason quickly, and gives him the finger, prompting a smack and a reprimand in Spanish from one of the women taking his picture.

“Sorry Sorry.” Leo says, raising his hands in submission. “My best friend is being a dumbass.”

That earns him another smack, but Jason can’t stop his grin as Leo calls him his best friend. Jason’s sure he’s never had a best friend before let alone a friend as great as Leo, so Leo reciprocating that friendship hits him hard.

Jason honks his horn a little bit, and the women turn around. The smile grows on Esperanza’s face.

“Hi Jason.”

“Hi Ms. V.” He says, leaning out the passenger side window. “Mind if I take Leo off your hands?”

she laughs. “Go ahead.” She says, pulling Leo by the arm. “It’s not like he’s been much help since he got into this outfit.”

And Jason’s gotta say, the outfit is exceptionally Leo. Red patterned dress pants, a black shirt and red suspenders fill out his look. Despite the quirkiness of the outfit, Leo looks great in it. Jason sure it’s 99% confidence, but 1% of it is definitely the outfit working for him.

“Yeah yeah love you too mom.” Leo says, leaning back to give her a kiss on the cheek before heading towards Jason, the slightest hint of a blush on the tips of his ears. He hops into the passenger seat, and rolls his eyes at Jason’s stupid grin.

“Oh don’t start with me.”

“But Leo.” Jason says, teasingly. “I’m your _best_ friend _.”_

Leo rolls his eyes again, but he’s smiling too. “I really didn’t expect this to go to your head like this, Jason.”

Jason shoves him in the arm. “You're my best friend dude, aren’t you  supposed to expect this stuff?”

He bites back a smile, and Leo shoves him back.

“Shut up.”

Jason laughs, and puts his car back into drive to head the familiar path to Piper’s.

There’s no photo shoot happening on the stairs when they arrive, so Jason grabs the corsage, and he and Leo head up to the front door, knocking on the door as they reach it.

“I liked that one the best.” Leo says, tapping the plastic contained Jason has the corsage in. “Piper will like it.”

“You think?”

He nods, and that’s when the door opens. It’s Tristan, who easily lets the boys in, a big grin on his face.

“Pipes is upstairs, getting a few finishing touches from Mellie, but she’ll be down soon.”

Jason vaguely remembers the name Mellie, as Piper had mentioned her a couple of times. He’s pretty sure she’s Tristan’s assistant. As promised, Piper appears at the top of the stairs within five minutes of their arrival, a woman with dark brown hair and a soft smile beside her.

She looks beautiful, is Jason’s immediate thought, which is a little stupid because she looks beautiful all the time, but seeing her like this isn’t much different. Piper is the kind of beautiful where she isn’t much elevated by fancy clothes, but that isn’t to say she doesn’t look amazing in that floaty pink dress she has on. She even has makeup on, something Piper rarely strays into. She smiles widely and scampers down the stairs before slipping on the tile in her heels. She almost falls, but quickly hooks her arms around Leo and Jason necks, pulling them in for a hug as well as some support as she stumbles to a stop. Jason wraps an arm around her, as does Leo. She pops her head up and easily plants a kiss on Jason’s mouth in front of everyone. He’s a little surprised, especially in front of her dad, but Piper seems like she could care less. She also leans over and gives Leo a kiss on the cheek who blushes profusely as she does so.

Finally she relinquishes her grip, and Jason immediately thrusts the box in his grip into Piper’s hand.

“Uh, I got you this.” He says, feeling nervous all of a sudden. “I hope you like it.”

Her eyes light up. “Oh I love it, Jason.” She gushes, pulling it out of the box. “Put it on for me?”

He happily takes the corsage from her, and Piper sticks out her wrist, wiggling her fingers a little as Jason ties the small bunch of fake flowers around her wrist. When he finishes, she lifts her wrist up and admires it for a second, before a glint passes over her eyes.

“Oh I almost forgot.” she says, turning back to look at Tristan. “Dad do you know where the things are?”

“Kitchen counter.”

She gives a smile to Jason and Leo before heading off to the kitchen. She returns a minute later, brandishing two white flower boutonnieres in her hands. She clips the first one onto Jason’s lapel, and then grabs a hold of Leo’s suspender to pin it on.

“Sorry it doesn’t match.” She tells Leo. “I only knew what Jason was wearing so I went off of that for them.”

Leo gives her a half smile, and tugs her under his arm. “Don’t sweat it beauty queen. I love it.”

Piper grins and wiggles out of his grasp before tugging Jason over in front of her fireplace where they can take pictures. Tristan and Mellie both pull out their cameras and take a series of shots in different poses. Poses that definitely began as something serious but more or less fade out into stupid jumping pictures. Leo jumps in then and the three of them take pictures of them holding Piper up in the air, goofy faces, and Charlie’s Angels being some of the favorites.

“I have one request.” Leo says, as the pictures are winding down. “I want to recreate that first picture you two took, but me as Piper.”

Jason laughs, and without hesitation, wraps his arms around Leo’s waist and looks at the camera.

As soon as Tristan snaps the picture, Leo pulls back from Jason’s grip and laughs his head off at the shot.

“I mean I’m not saying I’m going to post that picture with whatever caption you post your picture with, Piper.” He says. “But I’m not _not_ gonna do it.”

The group of them laugh, and after Piper says her goodbyes to her dad and Mellie, the three of them head over to the car.  

Dinner is pleasant.  They run into a couple of other kids from school, also homecoming bound, but for the most part, it’s the three of them in their own little world. When the check comes, all three of them grab for it, but Leo is the one who gets it.

“I’m paying.” He says, lifting his hand up to stop their complaints. “It’s the least I can do after I crashed your date tonight.”

“You weren’t crashing!”

“We invited you.”

He waves it away, and pulls some crumpled up bills out of his pocket. “I promise my third wheeling ends when we get to the dance.”

Jason rolls his eyes, and both him and Piper know they’re not going to get Leo to budge on this so they allow him to pay. And before they know it they’re off to the dance itself.

“You have the tickets, right?” Jason asks Piper. She nods, and produces them from her bag as they walk up towards the school. Leo pulls his own out his pocket, and the three of them head towards the door. Once inside, they make their way to the gym, which has a long line of students waiting to get in. As they walk by the doors, Jason catches a glimpse of the inside and slips his hand into Piper’s, giving it a squeeze.

“It looks amazing in there.” He tells her. “All you planning must have paid off.”

“You haven’t even gone in yet!”

“I can tell.”

They run into Frank and Hazel in line who not so discreetly pull them into the line with them. Jason feels bad for the people they just cut in front of, but his friends hardly find the time to care. And just like that, they’re inside, and it is just as nice as Jason thought it would be. They’ve got silver stars hanging from the ceiling, string lights and gauzy curtains adorning the sides of the gym, and a lot of other decorations on the tables and chairs set around the room.

“This is so awesome, Piper.” Hazel gushes. “Did you set this stuff up?”

She nods. “Not all of it, but I did help for a couple hours.”

“Have you guys seen anyone else yet?” Leo asks.

Frank and Hazel shake their heads.

“I think Nico and Will are here somewhere.” Hazel says, “but I don’t know about the others.”

“I doubt the seniors are going to show up this early. Especially in their space costumes.”

“Space costumes?”

Piper nods. “That’s the senior theme. So, Percy, Anna, Grover, and Reyna are gonna show up in stupid costumes when they do.”

Jason grins. “Oh I can’t wait for that.”

Leo splits himself off, as he said he would once they arrived at the dance, and the remaining four head out onto the dance floor. Everyone quickly becomes aware of how much of a dad Jason is on the dance floor, but he’s having too much fun to care. He grabs Piper’s hand and twirls her around, laughing as he pulls her into his chest.

“Smooth.” She giggles, before twirling him right back. It’s a little harder that way as she’s a little less than a foot shorter than him, but bending down a little isn’t a problem for Jason.

Jason gets a little hot after dancing for so long, so he and the others stake out a table with his coat, and then head to the refreshments table. Jason grabs himself a label of punch, and one of those little brownie things because those are his weakness, and they head back to the table to regroup. When the table comes back into view, Jason spies that Leo is there, talking with some people, who are being blocked from their view by the crowds. Leo notices them and grins, waving a hand in the air.

“Look who I found almost fucking in the bathroom!” He yells. They get closer to see Will with a stupid grin on his face, with Nico relaxing under his arm.

“Do you have to announce that to everyone at the dance?” Nico asks Leo.

“Thought you said you didn’t care?”

Nico rolls his eyes. “I don’t. It’s just called common courtesy, Valdez.”

Hazel heads over and smacks him. “Can’t you wait till later to have sex?”

“Hey it’s not his fault. It was mine.” Will says. “I said he was looking dehydrated so we went to the water fountain, and I kissed him in the back hallway, and then we-“

“Okay Will I think that’s enough.” Nico says, patting his arm.

“Are you guys having fun?” Jason asks.

Will nods. “I love a good dance.”

Nico nods as well. “It’s better than I expected.”

“I’m so glad!” Piper says with a smile. I think for anyone, getting Nico to admit he liked something they did is a big win, so Piper takes it.

They hang around the table, talking, laughing, chatting, and having a great time. Leo disappears again to who knows where, and finally Hazel brings up the fact they should be dancing again.

“I mean we talk like this all the time, and this is the only place where we’re dancing you know?”

They agree, somewhat more reluctantly than others. At that point, it’s been about an hour and a half, and the seniors have yet to arrive. Nico messaged in the group chat while they were sitting down, and the only response he received was from Annabeth stating they were “in transit.”

The songs are slower, when they make it to the dance floor the second time, so Jason slips his arms around Piper’s waist and she wraps hers around his neck. She presses her chest against his, and Jason’s breathing catches a little. His body heats up at the closeness. The last time they were this close, he had his tongue in her mouth.

“What’re you thinking about?” she asks, cocking her head a little.

“You.” he says, truthfully.

She smiles, and dips her head to hide in his chest a little bit.

“Boys have never been as nice to me as you are.” she tells him, peeking back up.

“What do you mean?”

She shrugs. “I don’t know. You just- you just seem to care about me and you’re not afraid of showing it.”

His heart softens. “I do care about you Piper.”

She leans in and presses a kiss to his lips. Jason doesn’t mean to, but he deepens it a little bit, hands spreading out over Piper’s waist. Unfortunately, their kiss is interrupted by a large green hand literally cutting a gap between their mouths. They turn to see Grover, Annabeth, and Percy, and both immediately burst out laughing. There they are, the three of them, painted green wearing what appear to be space suits.

“You guys look AMAZING.” Piper says, in between laughs.

Annabeth rolls her eyes. “Can you guess I wasn’t involved in the costume choice?”

“Isn’t the green getting everywhere?” Jason asks, and Percy nods.

“Oh yeah. But it’s the price you have to pay to look this good. Isn’t that right Grover?”

Grover high fives him. “Hell yeah.”

It’s only then does Jason notice the girl standing beside Grover. She’s not dressed like an alien. She appears to be dressed as one of the characters from the Jetsons. She slips her hand into Grover’s, and Jason connects the dots that she must be Juniper, his girlfriend.

“Glad you guys made it.” Jason says, patting Percy on the non-green part of his arm. “Didn’t think you’d come honestly.”

“We had to!” Percy says. “They’re announcing king and queen in like ten minutes.”

“Couldn’t miss that.”  
“Exactly.”

*

After around ten minutes, everyone has flooded to the dancefloor from freshman to seniors to see who will be homecoming king and queen. Begrudgingly, Mr. D walks to the front with a  microphone, and following close behind him is Coach Hedge.

“Of course these are the two they could get.” Hazel says, leaning over to Jason who stifles a laugh.

“Alright listen up students.” Mr. D says, straightening his tie. “We’re not going to make this take longer than it needs to so everyone listen up.”

A hush falls over the crowd.   
“You homecoming queen is Silena Beuregard.”

The room explodes in applause, and Piper jumps up, cheering for Silena as she makes her way up to the front. She’s completely decked out with a long dress covered in stars, and glitter on her cheekbones. Coach Hedge gives her a wide smile and a hug, probably as a result of her boyfriend being Beckendorf, and then he sets the crown onto her head.

“Yes yes, it’s all very exciting.” Mr. D says, tossing the first envelope onto the ground. “Now for your homecoming king, we have Percy Jackson.”

As loud as the roar of applause was for Silena, the sound doubles as Percy’s name is announced. He gives Annabeth a sloppy kiss before jogging up to the front. Mr. D visibly rolls his eyes, but Coach Hedge happily embraces Percy and grants him the crown. Jason has to admit, it’s a funny picture seeing Percy head to toe in green body paint, still somehow managing to look good, standing beside Silena, but both look happy to be up there with each other.

“And as tradition, we will have the king and queen dance.” Mr. D says, before audibly sighing. “And we hope you will all join them on the dancefloor.”  
Percy exaggeratedly offers Silena his hand, and she laughs. She takes it, and Jason can see her tentative grab for the green, before just committing to getting greenover the course of the dance. That’s when Piper’s hand slips out of his, and he turns to her with furrowed brows.

“I’m going to go dance with Annabeth.” she tells him. “That’s okay, right?”  
“Of course it’s okay, Pipes.” he says, leaning in and giving her a peck on the forehead. She smiles at him before heading off on her way. Jason glances around him, suddenly alone in a crowd of people, and he doesn’t know quite what to do with himself. The crowd around him is full of unfamiliar faces. Although he’s made his great group of friends, he’s still new to school and there’s so many people who don’t bat an eyelash at the name or sight of Jason Grace. He decides he should go look for Leo. Leo is always someone who makes Jason feel good, so he starts to scour the crowd. Once he reaches the center of the gym, he looks out over the crowd once again, but Leo is nowhere to be seen. Jason is about to move on again, when someone quickly slips a hand around his waist and takes his hand in theirs. Jason looks down in alarm, but relaxes when he realizes it’s none other than Nico Di Angelo. His hands are much softer than Jason is expected, but Jason can’t dwell on that as the confusion starts to set in. Nico looks nervous. He’s not looking at Jason, but he’s glancing around him like he’s afraid of being spotted.

“Can I help you?” Jason asks, letting his hand free hand settle on Nico’s shoulder, letting the two of them begin to sway.

That’s when Nico finally looks up at him. “Sorry. You weren’t dancing with anyone, and you’re a lot bigger than me.”  
“Okay?”   
Nico squeezes his eyes shut for a second before opening them again. “Sorry.” he apologizes again. “I’m just- I’m hiding from Will.”

“Why?”

Nico narrows his eyes at him, and Jason immediately backtracks.

“I mean, if you want to.” he says. “I know it’s none of my business, but I do have good listening ears.”  
Nico studies him for a second before letting out a sigh.

“Will asked me to be his boyfriend.”

In Jason’s head that seems like a good thing. At least the last time he saw them not even an hour ago, they seemed to be about at that point already. It seems good in theory, but Jason can tell Nico is unhappy about it.   
“And you don’t want that?”

“I don’t know what I want.” Nico admits, and Jason is incredibly surprised he’s the one getting to see this side of Nico. “It’s just that we had a good thing going and I don’t know why he wants to mess that up with a relationship?”

“How would that mess it up?”

Nico makes a face. “I don’t know. Me and Will…. We’re different. We don’t have anything in common, not really, and I think that being in a relationship would exacerbate those differences in a negative way.”  
Jason’s quiet, and Nico continues.

“I just don’t see Will as someone I want to spend the rest of my life with, you know?” he says, looking up at Jason again. “It’s like he’s on one side of the spectrum and I’m on the other.”

“Well I think that’s some of the appeal of why people work with people who are different than them.” Jason tells him, turning them a little bit. “You have the opportunity to kind of get from them what you don’t have.”

Nico nods slowly. “That makes sense.” he says, truthfully. “I guess the way I see it, I have kind of an image in my head of what I want out of a boyfriend, and it’s stupid, but when I think of that, it’s not Will that I see.”  
“What do you see?”   
Nico hesitates on this one. This seems more on brand for how Nico acts towards Jason, so it doesn’t faze him.

“Like a cross between Will and Reyna.” he finally says. “I like that Will is sunny and always tries to be what I want, but I think I need that edge from Reyna’s personality where she’s more cynical and more level headed.”

That makes sense. Jason can always see how Will tries to be everything he can to Nico, but sometimes there is that disconnect with someone who is so far out of your own comfort zone. Sometimes you just want someone who gets you instantly, and you don’t have to think about trying all the time.

“I think that’s a good medium.” Jason offers, unconsciously squeezing Nico’s hand a little bit.

Nico’s quiet for a second, before saying: “There is a part of me that does like Will romantically.” he says, simply. “But I don’t know if that feeling alone is enough for me to want to be with him.”

“Unless you’re jumping for joy at the thought, Nico,” Jason says. “You shouldn’t feel obligated to say yes. I’d just tell him how you feel about it and he’ll understand. Will’s a nice guy.”  
“Yeah. He is.”

Nico sighs. “You do have good listening ears.” he tells Jason.

Jason smiles softly. “I’d like to think so.”

“And you have warm hands.” he says, and Jason laughs, feeling the blush rise on his cheeks.

“And you do not know how to dance.” Jason blurts out, having noticed from the second they started Nico is not great. He’s stiff, and awkward, and his hand placement is all wrong.

“Excuse me?”

Jason laughs again.

“You’re shorter than me.” he says, reaching down to lift Nico’s hand from his waist. “That means your hand goes on my shoulder.”

Jason tugs his hand to set on his own shoulder, and Nico is pulled closer into him, as Jason sets his hand on Nico’s lower back.

“Much better.”

“Honestly Jason, I could give less of a shit about the formalities of slow dancing.” he tells Jason. “My plan was to hide from Will, nothing more than that.”

“I know that.”

They stare at each other for a second, and then Nico shakes out of Jason’s grip.   
“Uh thanks for the talk.” he says, “And the shoulders for their hiding capabilities.”   
Jason reaches up and scratches the back of his neck. “Anytime.”

And as he watches Nico disappear through the crowd, Jason is left with a feeling he doesn’t really know how to describe. He shakes confusing thoughts out of his head and wipes his hands on his pants before turning on his heels and continuing his previous quest of finding Leo.

He doesn’t find Leo, but he lets out a sigh of relief when he finds Annabeth and Piper twirling each other around and laughing happily.

“There you are.” Piper says, happily, pulling him into her. “Sorry I ditched you.”  
Jason chuckles. “It was fine.” he says, slipping an arm around her. “I had Nico to keep me company.”

“Really?” she asks, eyebrows raised.

Jason shrugs with a smile. “I think I’m growing on him.”  
*   
After that, the dance starts to wind down. The seniors dip out first, heading to Percy’s, and the rest start leaving not long after. Finally Jason and Piper come across Leo who they found in the center of a dance circle. He tries to pull the in and succeeds in getting a dab out of the two of them before agreeing to leave.

“Can we get McDonalds before we go to Percy’s?” Leo asks, putting an arm around Piper and one around Jason. “I want a shake.”

“Oh a shake sounds so good right now not gonna lie.” Piper replies.

“Of course we can.”

So when they show up at Percy’s about twenty minutes later, they have shakes in tow.

Percy answers the door, his skin maintaining a green hue even though Jason can tell he spent some time trying to rub it off.

“Did you bring enough for the class?” he asks, motioning to the shakes.   
“Bro we can double straw this if you want.” Jason says offering his shake to him.

“Tempting bro, but I’ll pass.” he says, with a smile. “Now come on in, you’re the last ones.”

They step in and kick off their shoes before making their way to the small living room that is currently stuffed with all their friends.   
“Aw you guys got shakes?” Hazel says with a whine. “I wanted one.”

“Sorry Haze.”  
Jason and Piper shove themselves onto the couch. There’s definitely not enough room in the space beside Reyna for the two of them, so Piper all but ends up in Jason’s lap.

“You just sat in a reserved spot, Grace.” Reyna says.

“Sorry!” Jason says with a laugh. “How have you been Reyna? I didn’t see you all night.”  
She shrugs. “I only made a brief appearance at the dance.”

“Well we missed you.” he tells her. “I hope your night was good.”

“It was.”  
That’s when Rachel from the tech crew walks into the room.

“More guests!” she says with a grin, sitting down on the floor in front of Reyna. Reyna lets her hand drop over Rachel’s shoulder, and Rachel picks it up and places a kiss to her knuckle.

“Jason, Piper, this is my girlfriend Rachel.”

She turns her head and tosses a lock of red hair over her shoulder, giving them a smile.

“I know Jason.” she says, reaching out a hand to give him a high five. “He’s the Prince.”

“Yeah.” Jason says with a laugh. “Good to see you.”

She gives Piper a high five as well, and they all settle back in as they put a movie in. It’s pretty lowkey. Mostly the group just enjoys each other’s company. As the night goes on, everyone is taking off jackets, getting more comfortable in the fancy clothes, and slumping onto each other the more tired they get. Piper curls up against his chest and Reyna leans her head on his shoulder.

“Looking at you guys makes _me_ want to cuddle with Jason.” Percy says.

“I second that. Dude looks cuddly as fuck.” Will seconds, and Jason lets out a surprised laugh.

“I’m lucky Jason isn’t into dudes or else I’d have a lot more competition.” Piper laughs, and Jason immediately feels sick to his stomach. He knows Piper didn’t mean anything by it, and that it’s party his fault for not telling her he’s bisexual, but that still hits Jason in a bad way. He doesn’t show it, but for the rest of the night, Jason is disconnected from his friends. He gets so in his head about that one comment, and it keeps him from enjoying himself to the fullest extent. He’s quiet on the drive home as Piper and Leo excitedly converse about the night.    
“I’m going to drop Leo off first.” he tells them. Once Leo is out of the car, that’s when Piper starts to notice that something is off with Jason. He can see her looking at him from the corner of his eye, and she has this concerned look on her face. Jason pulls up outside of her house and puts the car into park, glancing over at her for the first time since they got in the car.   
“Are you okay?” she asks, reaching out to squeeze his shoulder. “You seem a little off, Jay.”

He pinches the bridge of his nose, taking a deep breath in an attempt to collect his thoughts.

I was just, uh, thinking about what you said at the party.”

“What did I say?”

He bites the inside of the cheek. “You said that you were lucky I wasn’t into dudes.” and he knows that he can’t turn back now. He’s doing this. “And I- I that made me feel weird because-”

He cuts himself off. Piper looks at him with questioning eyes.

“I’m bisexual, Piper.”

Her face immediately turns to one of guilt. “I didn’t know, Jason.”

“I know you didn’t.” he assures her. “It’s my fault for not telling you, I just- I thought that I should tell you now.”

She nods. “You know this doesn’t change anything about how I feel about you.” she tells him. “I accept you for all of you, Jason.”  
That warmth takes over his body. He knew Piper would react like this, but still to have it happen in person means a to him.

“I know.” he says, softly.

He slips a hand up to her cheek and pulls her in for a long kiss, hoping to convey everything he feels about her through the touch of his lips against hers.

“Thanks for being my date.” he says, lips brushing against hers.

“Thanks for being mine.”

He kisses her again, and finally he fully pulls back from her.

“Good night Jason.”

“Good night.”

*

And as Jason heads home for the night, he feels as if a weight has been lifted off his chest. He knows that there will be more bridges to cross, more people to come out to in the future, and more things he won’t be able to anticipate, but for the moment, Jason is at peace. Overall, he would mark his first ever homecoming as a success.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The fated homecoming chapter!  
> I hope you all enjoy this chapter, it was a lot of fun to write. I'm excited to build off all the stuff that happened in this chapter because I think it drives a lot of what happens going forward in the fic. Thank you all for continuing to read, comment, and generally be so nice about this fic!  
> Moving forward I think my goal is updating once a week at the latest, and if I get less busy updates could come more often.  
> Thanks again and I hope you all continue to enjoy :)


	10. Hey that's my girlfriend

“Jason, you know I love you, but why the hell are you calling me at seven in the morning on a weekend?” Thalia’s voice grumbles from the other end of the phone. 

“Sorry.” he says, dropping his water bottle into the sink. “Were you asleep?”   
“Of course I was asleep!” she replies. “Everyone is asleep right now.”

“Well that’s not true, I saw like ten people out when I was on my run.”   
She audibly groans on the other end. “We get it, you’re fit,”   
Jason laughs loudly, before jogging up the stairs to his room. “I can call back later if you want.”

She sighs. “No, I’m up now. What did you want to talk about?”

“Well, I had homecoming last night.” he says. 

“Anything interesting happen?”

“Oh let me tell you.”

Jason then details his entire night from what happened at the dance, to the party, and even coming out to Piper. 

“Remind me who Piper is again.” Thalia requests.    
“Oh, she’s my-” He cuts himself off, the word  _ girlfriend _ on the tip of his tongue. That’s weird, he thinks. He hasn’t really thought about labels before because it had only been a couple of weeks, but the more Jason thinks about it, that’s what he sees Piper as for him. He wants that. He loves spending time with her, he feels like he can tell her things, and he definitely doesn’t want her dating anyone else.

“Your..?” Thalia presses.Jason clears his throat. 

“We’ve been seeing each other.” he says, surprised that this whole fact had slipped his mind when talking to Thalia before. “Y’know dating for a couple of weeks.”

“And you didn’t tell me?”

“Sorry” is what he offers in response. “Nothing is official, like we’re not in a relationship, but I like her a lot.”

“Well then I’m happy, you’re happy.”

“Thanks.” Jason says with a laugh. “Things are a lot more interesting at Goode than they ever were back at Edgarton, huh?”

She laughs too. “Oh without a doubt.”   
“I like it a lot more than I thought I would.”

“I’m really glad, Jay.” she says, with probably the softest tone Thalia can muster. “And you’re getting along with everyone right? Everyone is cool?”   
Jason almost rolls his eyes. Of course he is, but even if he mentioned any issue, he could already see Thalia throttling someone on his behalf.    
“Yes Thals, I promise.”

“Good. They’re well aware I would kick their ass if they were mean to you.”

“I’m sure they are.”

“Well. I’m going to go back to sleep Jay, but it was nice talking to you.”

“You too. Love you.”

“Love you too.” 

 

After his talk with Thalia, Jason drops his phone off at his desk and heads to a shower, because after his run this morning, he’s pretty gross. Jason used to do runs every Saturday and Sunday morning when he first started high school, but as the motivation wore off, and it got a little colder, the habit faded out. Now that he’s on the wrestling team, with his first meet coming up relatively soon, Jason’s decided to get back into the habit. In all honesty, he likes running. Obviously he doesn’t really enjoy getting sweaty, or the way his entire body aches after a couple of miles, but he likes the way it allows him to clear his head. He doesn’t have to think about anything, which is a welcome difference from the way his mind runs at all other hours of the day. 

 

After the shower, he comes back to a good morning text from Piper, which momentarily prompts him back into the girlfriend-boyfriend debacle he was thinking about earlier, but he pushes that away in favor of simply responding to her good morning text. After that, he goes to the next texts in his phone that truly makes his eyes light up, as it’s a text from (don’t tell anyone), his favorite group chat. 

 

_ Leo renamed the chat “we never finished doctor strange” _

 

**Leo**

_ It has come to my attention our superhero movie marathon idea ended after only one night, and we never even finished doctor strange.  _

**Leo**

_ So, I’m proposing we revisit this activity tonight _

**Hazel**

_ I’ll do it but there’s no way in hell I’m watching doctor strange _

 

Jason responds quickly. 

 

**Jason**

_ I have to go with Hazel on this one. Movie wasn’t great, man.  _

**Leo**

_ Fine fine. Shit on the masterpiece. We can watch something else.  _

**Hazel**

_ Good. We can watch Black Panther, and whatever movie Jason wants.  _

**Hazel**

_ My house?  _

**Leo**

_ Hell yeah _

_ * _

At around 7 that night, Jason picks up Leo.

“How’s it going, man?” Jason asks, as Leo gets into the car. 

“Oh you know me.” he says with a grin. “Thriving.”

Jason chuckles. “I’m glad.”

“I got another email from the robotics team today.” he tells Jason. “They keep hounding me.”

Jason remembers Leo telling him about this earlier this year. Apparently since freshman year, the myths of Leo’s building capabilities have been of great interest to the robotics team. They ask him to join about once a month, offering him captain positions, and all the glory that can surround being on the robotics team. 

“Why are you so against joining?” Jason asks. 

“I’m not!’ Leo insists. “I just enjoy being sought after.”

Jason rolls his eyes. “Is being sought after for three years not enough for your ego?”

“There are no limits to how much my ego can be inflated.” he says. “You know that, superman.”

“Why don’t you go to one meeting, huh?” Jason throws out. “Just see what they’re all about, and then you can decide if you want to keep being sought after forever.”

“I’ll think about it.”

Jason doesn’t press further, but he hopes Leo goes for it. Jason knows how much he enjoy building, and how crazy good at it he is, so Jason thinks this seems so perfect for Leo. People would go crazy over him. They get to Hazel’s easily enough, and in no time the three of them are back on her couch, putting in Black Panther.    
“Pick yours Jason.” Hazel says, gesturing to the movies splayed out over the carpet.    
“Why don’t I get to pick one?” Leo complains, getting him a side eye from Hazel.

“Because you picked all of them last time.”

Jason gets down on the carpet, and looks over the movies. He had seen about half of them, so with no real thoughts going into it, Jason grabs one he hasn’t seen. 

“This good?” he asks, showing the video and Hazel breaks out into a grin. Leo however, lets out an exaggerated sigh.

“Bad movie?” Jason asks, glancing at Spiderman: Homecoming in his hand. “I haven’t seen it.”

“Not bad. Hazel’s just made us watch it a thousand times.”

“And it’ll now be a thousand and one.” she says happily, taking it from him. “You’ll love it Jason.”

They settle in for Black Panther which Jason has seen before, but he really likes it so it’s just as good this time. They’ve only just got into the movie when footsteps trample down the stairs. The footsteps travel into another room, but soon enough, Nico pokes his head into the room.    
“What’re you watching?” he asks, glancing at the screen. 

“Black Panther.”

“Do you want to watch with us?” Jason asks, and it’s almost out of his control how fast that comes out of his mouth.

Nico glances at him, and back to the screen, before offering a shrug. “Sure.” he says, “Not like I have anything better to do.”

He pulls his hood up and sits himself right beside Jason, leaving a fairly sizable gap between the two of them. Jason doesn’t really mind about the space thing because he knows that he and Nico are just barely breaching friendship, so the two of them contentedly sit beside each other in silence. Leo and Hazel talk pretty much a mile a minute throughout the movie, whether that be about the movie or any other topic they can think of, which prompts Jason to try and fill the void of conversation between him and Nico. 

Jason turns to him and opens his mouth to say something, before stopping himself. Nico eyes him. 

“What?”

“I was going to ask you something, but I wasn’t sure if I should.”   
Nico blinks at him. “Were you going to ask about what happened with me and Will?”   
“Maybe.” Jason says, a little smile edging on his lips. “I’m invested now.”

Nico hums. “I suppose you are.”   
He reaches down to fiddle with the skull ring around his long thin finger. 

“I told him I wasn’t interested in a relationship, and that I just wanted to continue what we had going on before.”

“How did he take it?”

Nico gives an unamused laugh. “Not the best, but he got over it.” Nico says. “He has a lot of emotions, way more than I think any sane person has, but he also has a hard time staying mad about something, so it’s okay.”

Jason nods. “And how are you?”   
Nico seems a little surprised that Jason is asking him that, but he offers a half smile. 

“I’m fine, Jason Grace. Just fine.”

“You guys are talking through the whole movie.” Leo says, butting himself into the conversation, and Jason lets out a laugh. 

“Biggest hypocrite on planet earth, I swear.” Nico says, with a roll of his eyes. 

“Sorry Leo.” Jason says. “We’ll try our best not to talk over you talking throughout the movie.”   
‘I appreciate that.”

*

The rest of the movie watching goes well. Jason and Nico share sparing side conversations throughout the remainder of Black Panther, and by Spiderman, everyone is invested in the group conversation.    
As soon as MJ appears on the screen in black digs and a permanent, but endearing scowl, Jason chuckles. “I found Nico.”

Leo and Hazel laugh. “That’s what I thought!” Hazel says, squeezing Jason’s arm. 

“I always knew I’d look great on the silver screen.” Nico says, prompting more laughter. 

“New Halloween costume idea?” Jason offers, and the slightest hint of a smile makes an appearance on Nico’s lips.

“I guess we’ll have to see.”

“I already have my costume picked out.” Hazel says. “Months in advance is always the best in my opinion.”   
“Are you going to tell us what it is?”   
She shakes her head. “And ruin the surprise? No way.”

“Someone is having a party for that, right?” Leo asks. “I mean, I’m just assuming.”   
“Drew Tanaka usually throws one.” Nico throws in nonchalantly. “And we’re usually invited.”

“Does “we” include us now?” Hazel asks, motioning to herself, Leo and Jason. 

Nico looks at her like she’s stupid. “Of course it does, Hazel.”

Hazel grins to herself, and as they turn back to the movie, she subtly sets her hand out on either side of her, and Jason and Leo both subtly give her a high five.    
*

Once they’ve made it through both of the movies, Jason knows it's already a little late for it being a school night, so he and Leo say their goodbyes, promising the next installment of superhero movie watching will be be sooner than it was last time, and the head home for the night.

*

At school that week, Jason is immediately smacked in the face with the realization that the semester is going a lot faster than he realized. His first wrestling meet is this weekend, play rehearsals are starting, and that fact he’s still in the no-labeled phase of a relationship with Piper is all currently weighing on his mind. The most immediate threat to him is the wrestling meet. 

“Am I supposed to be wrestling in it?” Jason asks Beckendorf, as the two of them step onto the mat at practice. 

“Hell yeah you’re going to wrestle in it.” You’re free on Saturday, right?”

“Well yeah, I’m free, but I don’t know if I’m ready to wrestle.” he tells Beckendorf, honestly. “I’ve only been to a couple of practices.”   
“But the thing is Jason,” Beckendorf says, clapping him on the back, “you’re a natural. Practices can help you, yes, but your natural talent for wrestling makes it easy for you to do well in these situations even if you feel unprepared.”   
Jason stops arguing, but Beckendorf knows he is still hesitant.

“Listen, if you’re really not feeling it, we can get Coach to take your name off the line up.”

“Really?”   
“Nope.” Beckendorf says, laughing, and smacking Jason on the back again. “Coach Hedge will have an aneurysm if his new favorite team member isn’t wrestling, so tough luck, Grace.”

Jason rolls his eyes. “You’re hilarious.” 

“And you’re great at wrestling.” Beckendorf responds quickly. “You’ll be fine.”

As practice goes on, Jason does feel he’ll be okay with it. Beckendorf reminds him it’s one of the first meets of the year so it’s not going to be a big deal, and it’s in one of the smaller suburbs outside of the city, so they’ll be no one there to see him if he messes up.  Although that last part was a bit of tongue and cheek, it makes him feel better. The last thing Jason needs is his girlfriend seeing him lose badly at a wrestling meet. 

Oh. 

Wow. 

He just called Piper his girlfriend in his head without even thinking about it. He can feel himself blushing at that, of course, but he blames it on getting too hot to avoid any teasing from his teammates. Once practice lets out, Jason goes and sits out in his car in the parking lot for about ten minutes, before pulling out his phone and dialing Piper’s number. He puts it on speaker, and leans back in his seat. He’s thought it out pretty well what he’s going to say, so when Piper answers, he sits up. 

“Hi Jason.” she says, her voice soft. 

“Hey Pipes, I wanted to ask you something.”   
“Yes I still have your tie.”

He furrows his brows. “What?”

“I told you at lunch, remember?” she says, with a giggle. “You left your tie at Percy’s, and he gave it to me to give to you.”

He does remember. And he should really get that tie back. 

“Oh yeah, sorry. Can you bring it to school tomorrow?”   
“Sure thing, cutie.”

Jason’s blush darkens, and he bites back a smile, because after homecoming, Piper picked up a habit of giving him pet names, that makes him feel all kinds of bashful. 

“Do you want to be my girlfriend?” he blurts out, driven by the fluttering in his stomach. 

“Yeah.” she says automatically.    
Jason grins. “Yeah?”

“Of course, stupid.” she giggles. “Been waiting for you to ask.”

He picks up his phone, and tucks it into the crook of his neck. “Sorry it took me so long.”

“It’s okay.” she assures. “You should text me and remind me about the tie, because I know I said I would bring it, but I’ll forget.”

Jason chuckles. “I will.”   
“Good. Bye Jason.”

“Bye.”

*   
_ Leo renamed the chat “JASON AND PIPER ARE OFFICIAL” _

 

**Piper**

_ Does anyone not have anything better to do than fixate on this relationship? _

**Annabeth**

_ Not really. Senior year is boring.  _

**Reyna**

_ SO boring. All I do is college shit. Makes me want to die.  _

**Percy**

_ I vote we all drop out. Join the circus. I’ll be merman, Annabeth is the lion tamer, and Reyna walks the tightrope.  _

**Piper**

_ Leo is the clown _

**Leo**

_ Hey unnecessary _

**Leo**

_ Piper sweeps up the elephant shit _

**Jason**

_ Hey that’s my girlfriend _

**Nico**

_ We’re all aware Jason.  _

**Nico**

_ Can I be strapped to a wheel while Reyna throws knives at me? _

**Reyna**

_ Yeah I’m into that _

 

_ Hazel renamed the chat “just a whole lot of bad ideas” _

 

*****

Thankfully, everyone makes much less of a big deal about him and Piper being boyfriend and girlfriend than they did over the initial dating. The excitement doesn’t span beyond the group chat, which is ideal for Jason because he really hates all that awkward attention surrounding it. Attention is something Jason doesn’t really do well with in any capacity, so when he shows up at play rehearsal and is immediately just sent to work on lines, he feels great. Every time Jason watches another person go onstage, he gets re-energized over the fact he’s onstage only about three times in the whole play. He loves rehearsal, he decides after about ten minutes of being there. Because it’s basically like he gets a free ticket to a Shakespeare show by just going to class.

Currently, Connor and Travis are up onstage doing their first scene, which is incredibly funny, especially with the two of them doing it. Jason sort of forgets he’s supposed to be studying his lines in his corner of the room, because he gets a little to enthralled watching the scene in front of him. It’s not like it’s illegal or anything. Jason mostly does these super long monologues so the only person that is waiting on him to work on his lines is himself. And himself is definitely fine with working on lines at home. He flips open to his lines at the end, glancing down at one or two lines before looking back up at the scene playing out. 

“You know,” a voice says behind him. “You’re supposed to be reading your scenes not watching theirs.”

Just as Jason is about to look over his shoulder, when the voice reveals itself to belong to Nico, as he sits down next to Jason. 

“I am reading.” Jason tells him, which is a lie, but he says it anyway. He thinks getting in trouble with the stage manager is not the best move at the first rehearsal.

“I didn’t take you for a slacker, Jason.” Nico says, a hint of teasing in his voice.   
Jason is offended he would even suggest. “I’m not a slacker.” he says, picking up his script and looking down at it. “See? Reading.”   
“What line are you on?”   
“Give me the letter; I will look on it.” Jason reads off his script, doing an exaggerated Shakespearean accent.” Where is the county's page, that raised the watch? Sirrah, what made your master in this place?

Nico gives a gentle nod, and then he does something Jason really does not expect. 

“He came with flowers to strew his lady's grave; And bid me stand aloof, and so I did:” rolls off Nico’s tongue. His eyes flutter shut as he continues to recite the line that comes directly after Jason’s. “Anon comes one with light to ope the tomb; And by and by my master drew on him; And then I ran away to call the watch.”

Jason knows he’s staring but he can’t help it. He regrets doing his stupid Shakespeare accent, because hearing Nico speak it makes Jason 100% convinced that that is how you’re supposed to speak Shakespeare. Maybe even how you’re supposed to speak anything. There’s just this softness to it. The kind you wouldn’t expect from Nico’s voice, but it breaks through anyways. Nico blinks open his eyes at the end of the phrase and stares back at Jason

“Wow.” is all the intelligence he can muster, before thrusting his script at Nico. “You should play my part.”

“Oh shut up.”

“I’m not kidding.” Jason says, staring at him. “You’re better than all of us, you should be in it.”

“I’m not into the acting stuff.”

“Then how do you know all the lines?” Jason asks him. “Do you have to know them because you’re the stage manager?”

Nico shakes his head. “I just like Shakespeare.”

Then he backtracks. “I mean not the play content really, I think Romeo and Juliet are fucking stupid.” he says, making Jason laugh a little. “I like how the language sounds when you say it.”

“I’d like it more if I sounded like you when I said it.” 

The corner of Nico’s mouth twitches, and Jason grins at the admission of a smile threatening his lips. 

“Practice, Jason.” Nico says, standing up. “And not bullshit, actual practicing.”   
“You drive a hard bargain.”

And Nico gives him a  _ look _ before turning on his heels and heading off in the other direction, so Jason does what he should and studies his lines. 

*

Jason’s hopes of keeping his wrestling meet a secret are dashed as soon as he arrives to school on Thursday, when Piper meets him at his locker in the morning and presses a flyer against his chest. 

He looks down at it, and sees it's definitely a poster laying out the details of his wrestling meet. 

“You have a wrestling meet on Saturday!”

Jason makes a face. “I know.”

“Were you going to tell us or is this a little Jason secret?”

He wrinkles his nose at the term, but nevertheless, he repeats it. “I’d say it's a little Jason secret. It’s my first one, and I don’t want anyone to see me mess up.”

“I’m sure you won’t mess up.”

“I’d just..” he pauses, slipping his arms around Piper’s waist, “like it if you guys came to one later in the season. It would make me feel better.”

“Okay fine.” she says, leaning up and kissing him. Jason thinks he’s going to have to get used to Piper’s tendency to just kiss him on the mouth in public. “But you’ll tell me when I’m allowed to go?”

“Yes, I will.”   
“Good.” 

Piper kisses him again, and she pulls his hand from its place on her hip into her hand, where she passes him something. She breaks away and heads off towards class, and in his hand is his tie from homecoming “Thank you.” he calls after her, and she offers a smile over her shoulder. 

*   
On the morning of the wrestling meet, Jason wakes up before the sun comes up. He arrives at the school around 6:15, met with about a dozen of his teammates looking tired and waiting for the bus. 

“Are you ready for your first meet, newbie?” Clarisse asks him, as he leans against the wall beside him. 

“I think so.” he answers. “My main goal is to not get completely crushed.”

“The humble thing is tired, Grace.” she says simply, kicking her toe into the dirt. “You’re good. You know it, we know it. You’ll do fine.”

Jason tries to formulate a response to that, but the combination of an insult and what appears to be a compliment has him a little dumbfounded this early in the morning. Clarisse simply kicks off the wall and heads over to where the bus is pulling up in the parking lot, so Jason follows suit. He hopes to sit next to Beckendorf on the ride there, but he finds out Beckendorf’s girlfriend Silena is the team manager so he sits down beside her. Jason glances around at the other teammates he doesn’t know to well, but soon finds himself pulled into a seat right beside his own personal hype man, Coach Hedge. It’s hard to not let all of his compliments get to your head. By the time he gets to the meet, besides his own personal anxieties about it, Jason is kind of flying on this Leo level confidence about his wrestling.He thinks he should hang out with Coach Hedge more often. Coach Hedge would definitely love that. 

*   
Jason is a little intimidated once he sees the guys in his weight class, but the second he steps on the mat, everything kind of melts away. Like literally everything. Jason barely even remembers his two matches, but both of them ended with him pinning his opponent on the ground. The first one Jason got with a straddle, and the second one, Jason had a knee down on his back to hold him down for the count. Jason doesn’t know what it is about wrestling, without fail he goes into that place where his mind shuts down and his body takes over. The team they were up against wasn’t the best, as he had been warned, so their team easily takes the meet. Almost everyone on the team beat their opponent, so its cause for celebration as the group of them board the bus with the miniature trophy in tow. After what happened at that meet, and the many compliments and congratulations Jason received from his teammates, he feels much more confident and excited for Piper and the rest of their friends to see him wrestle in future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An update! in the middle of the week! Who saw it coming? Not me haha  
> I had a lot of ideas flowing through this chapter so I got it out earlier than expected!  
> Thank you all for continuing reading and leaving me all your super nice comments I love them!  
> I'll try and get the next update out as soon as possible :)


	11. Study Week

It’s only at this point in his life does Jason realize he has absolutely no free time anymore. Between play rehearsals that have extended to after school on Wednesdays, wrestling on Tuesday and Thursdays, Feminist Club on Fridays and now meets on the weekends, Jason barely has time to do his homework, let alone see his friends. It hits him on a Sunday night when he’s hunched over a pile of math he ignored over the weekend that he’s closer to falling behind in school than he has ever been in his life. That thought alone worries him enough into stress-making a calendar outlining all he has to get done through the end of the month. Out of the corner of his eye, Jason sees the group chat lighting up his phone, but he knows he can’t focus on that at the moment. Jason really enjoys his new friends and all the great things moving to Goode high school has brought to him, but he knows this is a much different atmosphere than what he experienced at his old school. Now there are things distracting him, things he wants to devote his time to outside of just doing well in school, and that requires him to prioritize some things over others. Right now, Jason’s priority is school. He vows to spend the next week hiding out in his room, focusing on getting ahead in schoolwork, so that he can enjoy being with his friends without feeling stress. Jason wishes he was a better multitasker, but compartmentalization is the best he can do at this time. 

 

And Jason honestly didn’t think his friends would notice his withdrawing because he’s constantly in the company of loud personalities, but boy was he wrong. 

 

“You’re quiet today.” is the first thing that comes out of Hazel’s mouth as he sits down at lunch. “I mean quieter than usual.”

Jason offers a shrug in response and pulls his English book out of his backpack, setting it right beside his lunch. 

“You’re reading?” she asks. 

“Yes.” he responds, flipping the page. “Problem with that?”

“No, no problem, it’s just. Odd.”

“Why? It’s for school.”

“I know. That’s what makes it odd.”

“What’s happening here?” Leo asks, sitting down beside Hazel. Jason doesn’t look up. 

“Jason’s reading. For school.”

“Gross.” Leo says with a grimace. “You know you can just sparknotes that, dude.”

Jason sighs. This compartmentalizing is going to be harder than he thought it was going to be. 

“I know.”   
Leo leans over and glances down at Jason’s page number. “You’re already like five chapters ahead of where we’re supposed to be!”

“I want to finish the paper this week.”

“Have we even been assigned a paper yet?”

“It was in the syllabus.”   
“Okay I’ve given up trying to understand you, Jason.” Leo says, shaking his head. “Now is everyone ready to talk about me?”

Jason glances up from his book, to see Leo with a shit eating grin, and Hazel leaning lazily onto her knuckle. 

“I’m going to robotics today.” Leo states. “You heard right, I’m granting those mere mortals an evening in my presence.”

“Happy for you, man.”

Just as Jason tries to look back at his book, a pair of hands set on his shoulders.    
“You’re tense.” Piper says as she leans down to press a kiss to his cheek. She massages his shoulders a bit, and Jason feels the slightest release of tension. “Why are you tense?”

“I’m not tense, babe.” he says, as she sits down beside him. “Just trying to focus on reading.”   
“ _ Babe?”  _ Leo says, in disbelief. “Where’s my cute nickname?”

“And I’m sure they’re not helping.” Piper says, motioning to Leo and Hazel. Jason chuckles a little. 

“Definitely not.”

Piper looks back over at Leo and Piper. “Let him read in peace, please?” she asks, nicely. “Just because none of us ever pick up a book doesn’t mean he’s not allowed to.”   
“Fine fine.” Leo concedes. 

And just like that, the talking directed at him subsides, and Piper has just saved Jason with one simple request. He feels a tug of gratitude to her, and sets an arm around her waist as he reads, pulling her just that much closer to him. 

*

Over the course of the week, Jason digs himself deeper into the whole of doing his homework, and somehow, he imagines it’s Piper’s doing, all of his friends respect his need to pull back and work on his own things. Teasing ensues about Jason being one of the only competent ones out of the bunch, but he brushes it off. 

At his new after school rehearsal time, Jason is working on tackling World War 2. He glances up every once in awhile, checking out the scenes, seeing if he’s needed, which is rare, but for the most part Jason has got his nose buried in a textbook.

“Jason, how many times do I have to get on you about focusing on your script and learning your lines?”

Jason doesn’t look up at Nico’s voice reprimanding him. 

“I know em’.”

“You-”

“Yes.”

Whoa. Jason doesn’t know where that shortness came from. He looks up at Nico who looks a little taken aback at the snippy tone Jason used, as that kind for response is unsual for him. Jason doesn’t take it back though. He simply looks up at Nico whose face of surprise, turns into one of determination. 

“Up, sir, go with me; I charge thee in the princes name, obey.”

Without missing a beat, Jason responds “Where are the vile beginners of this fray?”

A glint passes over Nico’s eyes. 

“As rich shall Romeo's by his lady's lie; Poor sacrifices of our enmity!”

“A glooming peace this morning with it brings; The sun, for sorrow, will not show his head: 

Go hence, to have more talk of these sad things; Some shall be pardon'd, and some punished: 

For never was a story of more woe Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.”

Nico raises his eyebrows. “I’m impressed.”

“Thanks.”

He’s about to look back down at his textbook, but he notices Nico hasn’t left his place in front of him. 

“Did you need something else?” Jason asks gently, feeling a little guilty about the short replies he gave Nico earlier. Nico passes for a second, eyeing him curiously, before shaking his head. 

“No.” he says. “Nothing at all.”

And then Nico is off. Jason watches him walk away, and the second he’s backstage, Jason pulls out his notebook to start his timeline of war events. 

*

**Piper**

_ I know you’re on your hyper focus school week, but I was wondering if we could hang out this weekend? _

**Piper**

_ Maybe Saturday? I think all good study sessions require breaks so you don’t burn yourself out. I think a good break for you would be spending time with your girlfriend.  _

 

Jason opens Piper’s text, making her the sole one he’s responding to on a regular basis. 

 

**Jason**

_ Yes, please. Hopefully by this weekend, I’ll be done with the homework stuff and back to being a better boyfriend. _

 

He thinks again for a second about his wrestling meet that weekend. This time it’s a home meet. 

 

**Piper**

_ Oh stop it. You’re fine. I know school is important to you, so you take all the time you need.  _

 

Jason really really likes Piper. He honestly can’t wait to spend time with her this weekend. Sure, seeing her in school, and fleeting kisses is nice for him, but it doesn’t measure up to when they get to spend quality time alone together. 

 

**Jason**

_ You’re too good to me.  _

 

And before he can overthink it, he sends

 

**Jason**

_ Hey, you should come to my meet this weekend. It’s at school, and we can hang out after that.  _

**Jason**

_ You can come over to my place.  _

 

He’s never invited Piper over to his house before. They usually either go out somewhere in town or to her house because it’s a lot nicer than his, but for some reason Jason wants Piper to come to his this weekend. 

 

**Piper**

_ Sounds perfect.  _

_ * _

 

By Saturday, Jason has become significantly more calm, cool,and collected about his schoolwork. He’s much more present in his life and his friends around him, so when he wakes up at 6am for his meet, he feels a rush of adrenaline, as if his body and mind are begging him to get out on the mat. Keeping to himself all week, Jason felt this strange sort of pressure building up within him, and he is dying to let it all out. Right when he arrives, he enlists Beckendorf to practice with him, giving him the chance to blow off some steam even before they start. 

“You’re on fire this morning, Grace.” Beckendorf says, as Jason helps him up off the mat. “No more nerves?”

Jason grins. “I don’t think so. I’m feelin’ good, man.”

Beckendorf smiles back at him. “Glad to hear it. After your study week, It’s good to see you back with us.”   
Jason nods. “I agree.”

Although it was necessary, Jason didn’t really enjoy this week. He missed his friends, he missed laughing with them, and engaging himself. He’s glad that he can have that alone time, but even more glad he has friends and a whole life he can come back to.

“And today is going to be good.” Jason says, clapping Beckendorf on the back. “My girlfriend is coming to watch.”

“Silena told me we would be getting an appearance from Piper.” he smiles. “Never thought I’d see the day when we got her to a wrestling match. She must like you.”

Jason feels the blush creeping on his neck. “I’m a lucky guy.”

After awhile, people start pouring into the gym. There’s more people, and more familiar faces than there were at the last meet, but that was expected because they are at Goode this time. Jason sits and watches the door, rather than his opponents on the other side, and his face lights up when he sees that Piper has arrived. She catches his eye and gives him a little wave and a soft smile before heading over to where Silena is sitting. The pressure of the week has worn off, Jason has someone in the crowd who supports him, and after a Coach Hedge pep talk, Jason walks onto the mat ready to win. And he does. Quickly. From neutral position to the first grab, Jason is in the zone. He anticipates every move. They lock at the shoulders, and Jason backs off just enough to wrap his arms around the guy’s waist and pull him down to the ground. The second guy Jason faces that day, is tougher. He’s better than some of the people on Jason’s team, so he lasts longer. They go back and forth for a brief period of time, but Jason quickly realizes that the guy’s left knee is not as good as it should be. Jason knocks it, and the guy falls to the ground, giving Jason that split second he needed to tackle him. After his second success, Jason looks out at the crowd, and Piper is standing up, clapping and smiling for him. Once he has his eyes on her, he cannot wait for the meet to end so he can be with her. Time passes by quickly, and the Goode high school team takes the meet once again. Jason grabs his stuff and slips his glasses back on, before heading over to where Piper is waiting for him by the door. 

She squeals and tosses her arms around him, which is something she immediately regrets. 

“Sweaty, oh god, so sweaty.” she makes a face, as she pulls back from him, and Jason laughs. 

“Sorry.” he grins. 

“Congratulations!” she smiles, slipping her hand into his. “You were great.”   
“Thanks for coming, Pipes. It means a lot.”   
“Thanks for inviting me.”

They walk hand in hand out to his car, and Jason tosses his bag in the backseat before getting behind the wheel. 

“You looked really good when you were wrestling.” Piper says, as Jason pulls out onto the road. 

He chuckles. “What do you know about good wrestling form?”   
“Oh, I don’t mean like that.” she says, wrinkling her nose. “You know what I’m talking about.”

“Do I?”   
Jason thinks he might. But he doesn’t want to get cocky. 

“I’m talking about the fact that when you wrestle, you look all hot and muscly.”

Oh. That  _ is _ what she’s talking about. Jason glances over at her, and he can see she is shy about admitting that, so he reaches over and sets a hand on her thigh, giving it a squeeze. 

“You give me too much credit.”

“It’s just the truth.”

Jason bites back a grin. As much as it embarasses her, Jason likes this flirty side of Piper. They arrive at his house soon enough, and Jason doesn’t waste time bringing her up to his room, which is basically the only place in the house he spends his free time. 

“If you don’t mind, I’m dying for a shower.” he says, reaching into his closet to grab new clothes. “If you just want to hang in here, I can be in and out in ten minutes, much less gross than I am now.”

She giggles. “That’s fine. I’ll wait here.”

She situates herself on his bed, and Jason heads to the bathroom. He takes one of the quickest showers of his life, and rubs a towel through his hair, to try and get it as dry as possible. He settles for half dry, and tugs on his clothes, making sure to leave his glasses on the sink before heading back in to be with Piper. When he enters, she is sat up on his bed, flipping through the book he had left at his bedside. She sets it down as soon as she notices him, and opens up her arms to him. He smiles, and crawls up onto the bed, letting her pull him against her chest. 

He lets her give him a long hug, which is basically a head lock, before she releases him, and he sits up beside her. 

“I missed you this week.” she tells him, fingers tracing lightly over his thigh. “I was jealous of the books that had your attention instead of me.”

“Books are gone now.” he murmurs, leaning in and pecking her lips. “I’m all yours.”

Piper reaches out and grabs his collar, pulling him in for a longer kiss. Jason obliges quickly, and before he knows it, he and Piper are in a full out makeout session. It doesn’t take much for either of them to get into it. It’s so natural, that Jason still doesn’t even feel much of a sexual spark within their kissing, it’s more mental than that. At least that’s how Jason thinks he views it, but then he feels Piper’s hand wandering down to rest right below his belt. She applies the slightest bit of pressure, and Jason lets out a pretty involuntary groan against her lips. That only seems to spur her on. As she touches Jason, he slips his hand to grope over her chest, never breaking their kiss. Before he knows it, his shirt is off, and he’s tugging hers off as well, feeling the tent in his jeans growing. 

“You’ve been so tense this week.” she murmurs against his lips. “Can I help you relax?”

She toys with the fly of his jeans, and oh, she really wants him to relax. 

“Only if you want to.” he tells her, kissing her again. He knows Piper has never done this before, but she seems, so willing to try and, to have this need to make sure Jason is all right, that makes the thought of her lips wrapped around him irresistible. 

“I want to.” she tells him. “But I-I’ve never done it before, so no making fun of me if I suck”

She makes her way down to sit between Jason’s thighs, as she works on the jeans. 

“I’d never make fun of you.” he assures her, helping her pull down his jeans. “You know that.”

“I know.”

She gives him one more kiss on the lips, and then tugs down his underwear to reveal him to her for the first time. 

*

Whatever Piper was worried about with her skills concerning oral sex, Jason couldn’t tell. Of course in the beginning, she was a little awkward trying to figure things out, but she quickly learned how to use her mouth, and how to do it in a way that Jason’ll be thinking about until they do it again. Once he finished, he returned the favor to her, and it’s about half an hour later when both of them are cuddled up in his bed, half dressed, and perfect content. Piper is telling him how feminist club was yesterday, because he missed it to work on homework, and she is about to start a new topic when Jason’s phone buzzes beside him. He picks it up and glances vaguely at the text. 

It’s from Nico. Which is very odd. 

Piper cuts herself off, as she notices Jason momentarily stopped paying attention, and he quickly sets his phone down, leaving the text unopened.    
“Sorry, what were you saying?”

She snuggles a little more into his chest. “Oh, nothing important.”

“No, tell me.”   
She shrugs. “I was just going to ask you about Halloween. Do you have a costume yet?”

Jason traces his fingers along her arm. “Nope. I’ve never been much of a costume guy.”

“Really? Why not?”

He shrugs. “I don’t know. I usually just pick up a mask or something the day before. I’ve still got like two weeks, so I’ll be fine.”

He can tell his answer disappointed her a little.

“Do you have a costume yet?”

“I had an idea…” she says, trailing off a little. “But I don’t think it’ll work out. I’ll just have to think of something else.”

“What was your idea?”

She blushes a little. “It was a couples costume.”   
Oh. Jason tries not to show disdain on his face. He thinks couples costumes are sweet and all, but doing one himself is less than appealing. Especially if it’s very involved. He can tell Piper really wants this, and after putting up with his week of studying, and her relaxation technique she used on him, she deserves something in return.

“Alright, let’s hear it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another update woohoo!
> 
> Hi everyone! This is kind of a weird chapter, and I don't know how I feel about it, but I think it was a necessary piece into going forward. This story is a lot longer than I originally intended it to be, so I might try to speed up some plot pieces so we can get to one of the main climaxes of the story. That will hopefully be happening within the next two or three chapters!  
> Also this chapter contained a tiny little bit of smut! I wanted to stylize it and make it not so overt because I think that read better for this piece and this relationship.   
> Thank you all for continuing reading and commenting, you are all so awesome!  
> Hope to update again soon!


	12. You continue to surprise me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: this chapter contains alcohol use

Jason wishes he was less easily swayed by Piper. Because now it’s Wednesday, and Jason is about to try on his fourth horrible costume of the week. To be fair, the upcoming disaster is not as a result of Piper. The first three however, were all her doing. When Jason was shoved into a Popeye costume that barely fit on Sunday, he knew it was all downhill from there. The costumes probably weren’t that bad, but as he told Piper before, he wasn’t one to go all out for Halloween. Thankfully, she respected his criticism of the costumes, and would try once again to find something they both liked. While she searches for the perfect fit, Jason is heading to rehearsal and he knows a costume is waiting there for him. He knows that it’s waiting for him because Nico sent him a warning. Although he ignored the text in the moment, the next day Jason opened it up and was met with an image he did not enjoy seeing. The picture was of the floor of Nico and Hazel’s living room, with fabric resembling his grandmother’s curtains and a pair of XL sky blue tights spread out across them. 

**Nico**

_ I can’t tell you how excited I am for your fitting.  _

Jason spends about a minute staring in abject horror at the image before responding. 

**Jason**

_ Be honest with me _

**Jason**

_ Does it look as bad in person? _

**Nico**

_ Worse _

Which means Jason has been dreading this moment since Sunday. He heads into the theater which is already bustling with his fellow classmates. Things have been getting a little more hectic as they’ve hit the middle of the play process. Actors and backstage people are starting to work together, and as a result, there is much more going on inside the theatre then there was a few weeks ago. Jason’s teacher flags him down quickly after he enters, and shoves him out to the hallway where there was a rack of three costumes, one being his. She explains to him that as his costumes is one of the first ones to be attempted, he’ll be trying it on today. She tells him to get into costume and come out onstage so that she and the rest of the crew can evaluate if the costume is going to work for the show, or if it’s back to the drawing board. As Jason glances back at his costume, he can’t help but feel guilty over the fact he hopes its back to the drawing board for his. He feels guilty, he really does, because the costume is made really nicely, and Jason is sure Hazel spent a good amount of her time working on it, but that doesn’t discount the fact it's got tights, and a jacket and puffy shorts combo he can’t imagine himself pulling off. Nevertheless, Jason steals off to the closest bathroom, and locks himself in the handicap stall, before he starts shedding his clothing. The first thing he throws on is the white flowy shirt, which actually isn’t too bad. The second thing however, is the tights. Jason quickly decides tights are his mortal enemy as he drags the skin tight blue fabric up his legs. Once he gets them up around his hips, he realizes that they leave nothing to the imagination, and he has absolutely no way of fixing that other than stepping into the puffy shorts. He tucks his shirt in and pulls on the jacket, and the sleeves make it only about ¾ of the way down his arm before the stop abruptly and produce golden tulle on each end. As Jason glances down at himself, he thinks there might be a possibility the fear was in his head. The outfit appears somewhat regal, and maybe he doesn’t think well enough into the scheme of theatre to see how the outfit would look good. 

*

Wrong. Jason’s moment of clarity was so wrong. The second he steps out of the bathroom, clothes in had, he bumps into Travis Stoll who bursts out laughing. 

“Jason you look fucking ridiculous.”

“Thanks for the ego boost.” Jason says sarcastically. 

Travis laughs again, giving him a pat on the back. “Anytime, my dude.”

Jason folds up his normal clothes and leaves them on the bench in the hallway, before stepping into the backstage area. He spies Nico, working on some of the lights, and he decides to make a detour to talk to him before showing off what he’s got on. 

“You’re right. It does look worse in person.”

Nico turns around, and immediately claps a hand over his mouth. 

“Oh Jason.” He says, stifling a laugh. “It’s- this is great.”

Jason rolls his eyes. 

Nico steps closer and reaches out to grab at the sleeve of Jason’s jacket. 

“It also doesn’t even seem like it fits all the way.” Nico points out, cold fingers brushing against Jason’s forearm. 

“It doesn’t. At least I don’t think so.” Jason says. “These tights are causing all sorts of problems.”

Nico laughs. An actual laugh not concealed or unamused, a real laugh bubbles out of Nico’s throat and although it’s at the expense of Jason, it’s quite a soft and nice sound. 

“Have you ever worn tights before?” Jason asks. He’s sure Nico has, and maybe he has some solutions to his current problem. 

Nico furrows his brow. “Yeah. I mean like fishnets.”

“Where do I put my, uh, stuff?”

“What?”

Jason flushes red, and leans in a little closer. 

“Where do I put my dick?” He whispers. He expects Nico to laugh in his face again, but he doesn’t. He stares at Jason, and swallows thickly. 

“Just,” Nico says, voice also dropped to a whisper. “Put it on whatever side is natural.”

Jason nods. “Okay, thanks.”

Jason’s steps back from where he and Nico were standing, because it was much closer than he realized. 

“Guess I’ll just have to accept this.”

“Do you really want to?”

“Do I have a choice?”

Nico bites down on his lip. “I mean I’m on the crew. I help decide what costumes work and what ones don’t…”

A realization crosses over Jason’s face and his eyes light up. 

“Di Angelo, are you suggesting you would compromise your stage managerial integrity to vote my ugly costume out?”

“It’s not compromising my integrity if I also think it’s ugly.” Nico says quickly. “I’m not playing favorites.”

And for the first time since meeting Nico, Jason feels like he can see right through him. He thinks this is proof Nico actually more than tolerates him because he’s willing to help Jason out when he knows he really doesn’t like something. 

“Of course not.” Jason says with a grin. He steps forward and reaches out to squeeze Nico’s arm. “You’re a lifesaver, man.”

And then Jason has no trouble stepping out onstage and displaying the ugly costume to the world, a grin on his face. 

“How do I look?” He asks, hands on his hips. He does a little twirl and his director leans over to the assistant director who furiously writes down some notes. Not long after, Nico jumps down and tells the director something, who nods in agreement, before having the assistant director write that down as well. 

“I don’t think this is the finished product yet, but thanks for trying it on Jason.” The director says with a smile. 

Jason gives a thumbs up, and heads offstage. Jason stops by the rack in the hallway, and he’s so excited to get these clothes off, he doesn’t even go to the bathroom. He’s got the jacket and the shirt off, when someone calls his name behind him. 

He turns around to see Drew waving him down, heels clicking against the tile floor.

“God, Piper is lucky.” she says, as she stops in front of him, gazing at his shirtless figure. Jason blushes. 

“How can I help you, Drew?” He asks, pulling his shirt over his head. 

She reaches into the folder in her arms and pulls out a decorated invitation. 

“Halloween Party at my house on Saturday.” she says, handing him the invitation. “Can I expect you there?”

He glances down at the invitation for a Saturday night. “Yeah, I’ll be there.”

She smiles. “Good.”

And then she’s off down the hallway, and Jason gets the sweet release of stepping out his tights and thinking about how he never has to put them on again.

*

Later that night, after rehearsal, Jason receives a text from Piper. 

**Piper**

_ Can I come over?  _

**Piper**

_ I’ve hit the jackpot with this one babe it’s perfect _

Jason chuckles at her persistence, and since he’s still kind of flying off of getting out of his bad costume and getting an invite to Drew’s Halloween party, he agrees. 

Piper shows up about ten minutes later, carrying two bags. Jason quickly lifts them out of her hands, and she thanks him with a kiss. 

“I had such a good idea and then I thrifted for like two hours to find everything I didn’t already have.”

She takes one of the bags from his hand and ushers him to go change into whatever he’s got in there. 

“Do I not to get to know what it is first?” He asks, glancing back at Piper who is shoving him across the floor. 

“Nope. Element of surprise.”

Jason rolls his eyes, but allows her to shove him all the way into the bathroom for him to change. When Jason starts pulling out the contents of the bag, it all appears to be normal clothes. A white sweater, blue button down shirt, blue pants, and..okay. Jason figures it out once he pulls out the orange ascot.piper was right. This is a good costume. He quickly shucks it on, and glance in the mirror, and slap him in the face if he doesn’t look exactly like Fred Jones. He steps out and a smile spread on his face at Piper, dressed in a dark purple dress, light purple tights, with a little headband and a green scarf. 

“What do you think?” she grins, giving him a twirl. 

“You’re right.” He says, slipping his arms around her waist. “It’s perfect.”

She squeals in excitement and pulls him down to kiss her. He kisses her back and pulls back to admire her Daphne costume once again. 

“I even thought ahead.” she says. “I did in fact get a dog collar for Leo if he ends up wanting to be Scooby Doo with us." Jason laughs loudly. 

“A girl after my own heart.”

“We’re going to totally crush Drew Tanaka’s party.” she informs him, and Jason chuckles again. 

“Definitely.”

*

And on Saturday, Piper stays true to her want to take the party by storm. She stops at Jason’s an hour before to make sure she can do his hair just right as well as her own. She’s got these big curls, much different from her usual braids and Jason can’t handle how pretty she is. 

“You’ve got to stop kissing me.” She giggles, after the fourth time Jason has leaned over in the middle of the hair process to give her a peck. “I’m trying to do your hair.”

“And I’m trying to kiss my girlfriend.”

She laughs in surprise, and pushes him back into his seat. “Who are you and what have you done with Jason?”

He grins and offers a shrug. Things have been going so good for Jason lately, he feels like a whole new person. He’s comfortable, he’s confident, he’s flirting unabashedly his girlfriend, and not worrying about anything that can hold him back. He’s on cloud 9, and everyone can see just how happy he is. 

*

Arriving at Drew’s party, is much different than arriving at a party at Percy’s or even Hazel and Nico’s for that matter, because this isn’t just an intimate get together of under 20 people. This is about a hundred of the most popular, wild kids at their school going nuts. There’s people all over the lawn, the front door is wide open, and everyone is dressed in costumes so that Jason can hardly tell who anyone is. He grabs Pipers hand, and the two of them maneuver their way through the crowds to get through the front door, which isn’t any less wild than the outside. Finally, they find a familiar face in Drew. She’s dressed as a devil, well, a sexy devil, but a devil nonetheless. 

“Hiiiiii.” She says, tugging them both in for a hug. “Thanks for coming. Alcohol is… everywhere, and your friends are out but the bonfire.”

“Thanks.” Piper laughs, giving her a final pat on the back. They stop by the kitchen and Piper grabs a drink. Jason abstains, as he let the group chat know he would sober cab everyone back from the party, and then they follow Drew’s instructions to the back of the house. It’s considerably quieter as they step out onto the patio, and they start walking down to the bonfire where a small group is sitting. From far away, Jason can make out next to nothing, but as they get closer, he can see his friends a lot more clearly. Percy and Annabeth are dressed as Wesley and Buttercup from the Princess Bride, and beside them is Frank who looks like Cyclops from X Men, and Reyna and Rachel who kept it simple with pirate attire. 

They’re immediately welcomed into the group, receiving praise for their costumes, and them giving it in return. They take a seat on the other side of the fire, out of the smoke, and the group of them just sit, talk, and hang out. They get a few visits from Beckendorf and Silena, Will Solace, and even Leo who Jason didn’t even realize was at the party until he sits down beside Jason for a minute. 

“Just wanted to say hi.” He says with a smile. “I’m with a few of my friends from Robotics so I’m going to be hanging out with them for most of the night.” That makes Jason smile. 

“BOO.” Percy says, giving him a thumbs down. “Hang out with us. We can’t share you with other people.”

“I’ve still got mad love for you Percy, you know that.”

“It’s true. He told me that if he was into guys you would be the first one he would-“

Leo claps a hand over Jason’s mouth, making him laugh. Percy laughs too. 

“Why would you share that with him?”

“I’m flattered Leo, honestly.”

Leo rolls his eyes, and stands up. 

“I’ll see y'all later.”

After a little longer at the bonfire, they decide to venture back into the house to get back into the party, as they have a habit of cliquing up and not talking to anyone outside of their group. On their quest to get more involved with the party, they find Hazel and Nico just making it in the door. 

Hazels costume is huge. Jason doesn’t know why he expected any less than this, but her huge beautiful redDiana Ross dress and big curly hair happily surprises him. She shoves the dress through the door, and as much as her outfit surprised Jason, Nico’s gets him even more. When Hazels our of the way, he sees Nico’s hair tied back in a ponytail, but his hair is still curly down the sides of his face. Then Jason’s eyes trail down to the black leather jacket, the white shirt and black pants and sunglasses and combat boots and a huge smile appears on his face. To the untrained eye, it could seem like Nico didn’t wear a costume at all, but Jason could see it. Nico is dressed as MJ from Spiderman Homecoming, a costume Jason had suggested to him almost a month ago. He remembered, and decided to take Jason up on his half joking offer the night they all watched the movie at Hazel’s. Jason grins at Nico so hard, and the second Nico sees him, he flips him off. Classic. Jason heads over to them, and embraces Hazel, complimenting her on absolutely everything, and she gives him a little shoulder shimmy as she moves past him towards Frank. 

“Love the costume.” He beams. 

Nico rolls his eyes. “This was a mistake wasn’t it? This is going to your head.”

“Nope.” Jason smiles, shaking his head. “Perfect choice. You look great.”

“Well, you’re not so bad yourself.” Nico tells him, avoiding his gaze. “Where’s the rest of the mystery gang?”

“Only brought Pipes as Daphne.” Jason tells him. 

“I thought for sure Valdez would be your canine companion.”

Jason laughs. “Why does everyone keep saying that?”

Nico shrugs. “Same energy.” And Jason laughs again. 

“Here sit down,” Jason says, ushering Nico to the couch where the rest of their friends are. Nico takes a seat by Reyna, and Jason runs back to the other side to sit by Piper, throwing his arm around her shoulders. Others join, and they get into a game of truth or dare. There’s a lot of kissing and shot taking involved, Jason himself having to take a shot of hot sauce which definitely did not go down without a fight. He chugs a glass of milk after, and everyone laughs at the way he leaves his tongue hanging out of his mouth to try and quench the fire. 

“Ghost king,” Leo says, having joined them about halfway into the game. “Truth or dare?”

Nico thinks about it for approximately two seconds before answering. “Truth. I don’t want to move.”

Leo gets a devilish grin on his lips. “We all know you kicked Will Solace to the curb,” He begins, and Nico’s face falls into s grimace directed at Leo. 

“So the people want to know, what  _ is _ your type?”

Nico also doesn’t really hesitate before saying: “straight men in committed relationships.”

The group bursts out laughing. 

“It’s okay Nico, you can say it’s me.” Percy says and the group laughs more. 

“Get over yourself Percy, you’re so two years ago.”

“Time makes the heart grow fonder.” 

“Have I told you I hate you?” Nico asks, and Jason is surprised to see a blush appearing on Nico’s cheeks. “I tell you I have a crush on you ONE time and this is what happens.”

“I still have the note.”

“No you don’t.” Nico says, wide eyed. Percy nods. 

“Of course I do.”

Nico hides his red tinted cheeks behind his hands, and the group continues to laugh. Jason never took Percy for the type of guy Nico would have a crush on. Then again, maybe was different two years ago then he is now. Finally, the antics die down, and they’re able to continue with the game, but as the dares get more niche and stupid in ways that only their friend group finds amusing, everyone starts to taper off, leaving them once again in their own little clique. 

“We really have to stop being so exclusive.” Annabeth says. “We keep driving people away.”

“Oh who cares.” Reyna says. “If they were real ones they would’ve stayed.”

The conversation transitions into never have I ever, where each of them start with ten fingers and each time they’ve done something, they clap and put a finger down. 

“Never have I ever had sex.” Hazel says, and Jason joins the majority of the others in clapping, with only Leo, Frank, and Piper not joining in. 

“Never have I ever broken a bone.” Frank says beside her. Jason also claps for that one, thinking back to the ribs he broke in basketball a couple of years ago. The game continues, and Jason finds himself clapping for a lot of them. 

“Who knew you were so bad.” Piper teases, glancing from her hands with six fingers up, to his with three. 

“News to me.” He chuckles. 

Then it gets to Percy, who is already counting back up his fingers. He thinks for a second before posing:

“Never have I ever dated a guy.”

Jason feels Piper’s hand immediately go to his thigh, seemingly assuring him it’s okay if he didn’t want to answer. Jason is grateful for that, but he’s not ashamed. He claps along with Piper, Hazel, Rachel, Nico, and Annabeth then suddenly, all eyes are on him. 

“Did you hear that right?” Percy asks, genuinely. “Dated a guy?”

Jason nods. “Yeah bro. I have. I’ve dated two, in fact.”

Percy smiles at him. “Good to know.”

“We love you Jason.” Hazel tells him, and his body feels warm all over. 

“Yeah, I know.”

The respect and care and feeling of overwhelming positivity Jason has received once again when coming out to the new people in his life only cements how happy he is to be, existing where he is in this moment in time. He glances over at Nico who is staring at him with this unreadable expression. The only thing Jason could  _ maybe  _ pinpoint it as is one of betrayal, but that doesn’t make any sense. As soon as Nico realizes Jason is staring, he shifts his demeanor back to its normal face, one of neutral discontent.  Jason shrugs the weird exchange off, and turns back to the game, where the next person announces that they had never been out of the country, which gets Jason’s final finger down. 

*

The rest of the party is loud and blurry, and by the time one rolls around, Jason has decided it’s best to start rounding everyone up. He gets Piper in his car easily enough, but it’s the others that cause the trouble. Leo and Hazel are the issues. Both tripping over their feet, dying to say goodbye to everyone, and just a little too intoxicated to listen to Jason as he tries to push them into the backseat with Piper. Jason and only planned on taking home Leo and Piper, but on account of Hazel and Nico both forgetting that one of them had to stay sober to drive them back home that night, Jason insisted they come with him. Nico, who was considerably less drunk than those in the back, had sat himself in the front seat, allowing Jason to handle the dirty work of getting their drunk friends all seatbelted in, and simply watched in silence as Jason got back in the driver's seat. Leo gets dropped off first, and then Piper, who Jason all but carries to her door. And then it’s just Nico and Hazel. Hazel had fallen asleep in the back almost immediately after getting in, so Jason and Nico sit in palpable silence. 

“You continue to surprise me.” is what Nico says when he breaks it. Jason glances over at him. 

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Jason thinks for a second. “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

Nico hums. “I haven’t decided yet.”

A beat passes, and Jason doesn’t know how to respond. Thankfully, Nico finishes his sentence. 

“But I’m leaning towards good.”

Jason looks over at him again, and Nico has the softest smile playing on his lips. Jason smiles back, and the two of them sit in comfortable silence until they reach their house. Nico wishes Jason good night, and picks up Hazel in his arms, big dress and all, and carries her up to the front steps. Jason waits until they’re all the way inside, until he drives away. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Here's a new update for you!  
> At this point, I've got the entire rest of the story perfectly mapped out and I'm super excited for ya'll to read what I have in store. I'm pretty busy right now so updates will hopefully be coming once a week!  
> Thank you for reading and for the always and continuous overwhelming support and comments I get from you!! They make my day.


	13. Something bad

On the following Monday, Jason checks his phone to reveal a series of texts in the groupchat. 

 

_ Will renamed the chat “Jason’s not the new kid anymore” _

 

**Will**

_ There’s a new girl in my homeroom.   _

**Will**

_ I think @Leo will like her _

**Leo**

_ Why? Because shes a girl? _

**Will**

_ Ya basically _

**Leo**

_ Fair. What’s her name? _

**Will**

_ Calypso _

**Leo**

_ Hm. Interesting. I’ll do research and report back to the group.  _

 

Jason is happily surprised by the contents of the messages. Jason is happy to not be the new kid anymore because that really solidifies his place in the school. He isn’t an outsider. At this point, it honestly feels like he’s been here all three years of school. The second reason he’s happy is because it’s no secret he really wants Leo to be happy. Jason obviously knows nothing about this new girl, but maybe she might be someone who appreciates Leo for who is, quirks and all. Of course Leo doesn’t need someone to complete him, but Jason probably more than anyone knows Leo has been feeling particularly lonely. Who wouldn’t be, Jason thinks, when you’re surrounded by as many relationships as Leo is. The bottom line is, Jason is excited to hear what “research” Leo finds on her.

*

“I hate her.” Leo says as he sits down at lunch on Tuesday. “She’s a nightmare.”

“Really?” Jason asks, in surprise. “She’s in my English class and I thought she seemed-”

“Awful? Well yeah, you’re right.”

“I was going to say nice.” Jason says. “What made you feel so strongly about her?”

Leo grumpily takes a bite of his sandwich. “She joined robotics. And within the first meeting there, she made me look like a dick in front of everyone and criticized everything I had built. I mean it was like she showed up there simply to make everyone else lose all respect for me.”

“Jeez.” Jason says, giving leo a half-hearted pat on the back. “I’m sorry, dude.”

“Me too.” Leo says, and Jason can hear just how upset he is over it. “I can’t believe I’ve found a girl I don’t like.”

Jason laughs at that. “I can’t believe it either.”

Leo is still cracking jokes, and Jason feels like his mood is on the cusp of improving when the worst possible thing happens. Percy rolls up to the table, bringing along someone behind him.

“Hey guys!” he says, with a smile. “I met the new girl, and I thought she could sit with us because she doesn’t know a lot of people.”

Calypso steps out from behind Percy, a smile on her face. A smile that instantly falls the second she zeroes in on Leo. 

“Nice to see you again, Leo.” she says with a tight lipped smile. 

“Is it?” he asks. 

“No. Not really.” she says as she takes the seat beside Percy. “I think interacting once a week will be my limit.”   
“Hi, I’m Jason.” Jason cuts in, trying to diffuse the tension between the two of them. “We have English together.”

She turns to him and her face immediately softens. Jason is surprised by how quickly her face returns to that subtle sweet demeanor that apparently every guys sans Leo is worthy of receiving.    
“I know.” she smiles. “Nice to formally meet you. I’m Calypso.”

Jason gives a nod, and Calypso turns back to Leo. “Why aren’t you more like Percy and Jason?” she asks. “They’re nice.”

“How am I not nice?”

“I think this was a mistake.” Percy says, looking on at the continuing squabble. “I didn’t expect this.”

Just then someone sits down on Jason’s other side. Due to the close proximity the person chose to sit next to him, Jason assumes its Piper. He turns his head, planning on giving her a kiss, and thankfully stops himself short of kissing Nico Di Angelo. 

Thankfully Nico is none the wiser as he pulls off his backpack and kicks it under the table, completely oblivious to Jason, who pulls back and runs a hand through his hair. Nico pulls out a can of pop which is apparently his whole lunch, and leans a little closer into Jason to listen in on the conversation 

“What did I miss?” Nico asks, looking up at Jason. “Who's the girl?”

“Calypso the new girl. Her and Leo hate each other.” Jason tells him, still distracted by the pop in Nico’s hand. “Is that all you brought for lunch?”

“What?”

“This.” Jason says, tapping the can in Nico’s hand. “Is that all you brought?”

Nico rolls his eyes. “Oh please do not go all Will Solace on me right now. I can eat whatever I want for lunch.”

“I won’t.” Jason assures him. “But aren’t you going to be hungry?”

Nico shrugs. Jason feels a tug in his gut and reaches into his own lunchbox, pulling out fruit snacks and offering them to Nico. 

“No, Jason-“

“I don’t even like them.” Lie. It’s a blatant lie that rolls all too easily off Jason’s tongue. “I won’t eat them even if you don’t take them.”

Nico hesitates, biting the inside of his cheek before taking the fruit snacks. 

The two of them turn back to Leo and Calypso who are somehow still arguing. 

“Do you think there’s an off switch somewhere?” Jason asks Nico, who laughs. 

“If there was an off switch on Leo, I would’ve have used it years ago.”

Jason shakes his head, a smile on his lips. 

“You know there's a difference between self confidence and arrogance,  _ Leo _ .”

“And there’s a difference between being “honest” and being a jerk,  _ Calypso _ .”

“Leo.” Hazel snaps as she sits down next to him. Leo cuts the conversation and looks over at her. “Shut up.”

“But she-“

Hazel lifts up a hand to stop him. “I don’t want to hear it.” she says calmly. “You’re annoying everyone at the table so stop.”

“Are you okay Haze?” Leo asks, and she sighs. 

“Yeah, just tired.” she tells him. “I’ve been working on costumes nonstop and I have more to do after school today.”

“Sucks.” Leo says, empathetically. “How’re you getting home after school?”

She shrugs. 

“I can take you.” Jason says, leaning over. “I’ve got wrestling so if you’re done at around 5 or 5:30, I’ll be ready then.”

Hazel gives him a tired smile. “Thanks Jason.”

“Course.”

Somehow, they manage to make it through lunch without anymore outbursts of fighting between Leo and Calypso and the rest of the day goes by pretty quickly. The past couple of weeks have all but flown by so Jason isn’t even surprised when it's the end of the day, and time for him to head to wrestling. He stops in a bathroom on the way and changes into his wrestling clothes, making sure to put his glasses into his backpack before finishing the rest of the journey to the wrestling gym. It’s as hot as ever when he gets in, but practice itself isn’t bad. Jason likes working up a sweat when he practices because it gives him something tangible to show all the effort he puts in. They go for about an hour, him practicing with Beckendorf and Clarisse under the supervision of Coach Hedge. He even gives Jason some new moves to practice, which give him something else to work on and challenge himself before their next match. This week is an off weekend, but the next week they are supposed to be going against their longtime rivals at the highschool about ten minutes away. It seems like its supposed to be a big deal, so Jason is excited for that meet. They work straight through until about 5 when Coach Hedge stops them. 

“Good work today team.” He says, excitedly. He flips through a couple pages on his clipboard. 

“So as you all know this week is an off weekend for us, no meet, but that doesn’t mean we can slack off, right?”

“Right.” they echo in return. 

“And I know all of you have been anxiously awaiting our next meet, in account of us getting to face off with the Titans, but there was a scheduling error so they had to pull out of the meet.”

Murmurs spread through the group. 

“What does that mean?” Clarisse asks. “Is next week’s meet cancelled?”

“Luckily, another school has stepped in. Even offered to drive all the way here from Pasadena.”

Jason had been half paying attention until those words left Coach Hedge’s mouth. His palms start to sweat, as he listens intently to what Coach Hedge’s next words are going to be. 

“They’re called Edgarton Day and Boarding School. Anybody heard of them?”

No. No no no no no. This can’t be happening. All of a sudden Jason’s chest feels tight and as much as he tries to prevent it tears start pricking at his eyes. Jason has spent  _ so  _ much time trying to leave his past buried back at his old school, and the fact that this school, and those people, and his secret are taking a bus right to his new school makes Jason feel like he’s dying. He doesn’t know what to do. His mind is scrambling, clawing around for anything to help him calm down, but there is a definite absence of rational thought. His hands start to shake, and before he can think, he grabs his backpack and runs out, ignoring the calls of his teammates. He only stops running when a dizzy spell hits him about halfway down a hallway, forcing him to lean against the row of lockers. He desperately tries to remember the breathing techniques his mom taught him to use when he gets like this, but it's impossible. Negative thoughts cloud his brain. None of his friends will want to know him, they’ll be scared. Piper will break up with him when she finds out. He’ll ruin everything he built here and he’ll have to start all over from scratch once again because-

“Jason?”

Jason looks up to see Hazel staring at him, eyes wide and full of concern. The second they lock eyes he feels a tear slip down his cheek and Hazel immediately drops everything she’s holding and rushes to wrap her arms tightly around his Jason’s waist. Jason holds onto her, as she’s about the only thing keeping his knees from buckling underneath him. He buries her face into his shoulder, breathing shakily as tears leak out of his eyes beyond his control. Hazel presses her hands flat against Jason’s lower back as she takes a deep breath in, Jason follows suit, taking his time matching his breathing to hers. Somehow, the negative thoughts dissipate for the moment, and all that's in his head is the warmth of Hazel and her arms around him. After a long time, Jason pulls back from her, and she cups his cheeks in her hands, searching his tear stained face for answers.    
“What’s going on Jason?” she asks, softly.    
Jason feels a tug in gut. He wants to tell Hazel, he wants her to be able to be there for him, but he can’t.He just can’t. 

“Uh nothing.” he manages, voice cracking. 

“This is not nothing.” she says firmly. “Tell me what’s wrong.”   
She stares at him expectantly. 

“Um, I… well.” he stammers, still feeling disoriented.

Hazel frowns. “Sit down.”

She tugs at his hand and the two of them sit down, back against the lockers. Hazel holds Jason’s hand in her lap and watches him patiently, allowing him time to collect his thoughts before he talks. 

“I came to Goode because something happened at my old school. Something bad.”

Hazel stays quiet but squeezes his hand reassuringly. 

“And..” he says shakily. “I really wanted to put all that stuff behind me but now-” his voice breaks off again. “now we’re wrestling them next Saturday and I’m just afraid it’s going to dig up all the stuff I wanted to leave behind.”

Hazel is quiet for a moment before speaking. “I don’t know what happened at your old school, but Jason you know whatever it is isn’t going to change how we feel about you.”

_ You say that now   _ Jason thinks.

He thinks it, but he stays quiet. 

“Did the thing that happened involve the guys on the wrestling team?”   
Jason furrows his brows. “No, no - I don’t think so.”

“Well then you might not have anything to worry about.” Hazel says, a soft smile on her lips. “Sometimes our brains automatically go to the worst case scenario and we have to take a step back to see the logical stuff, right?”

Jason nods weakly, and Hazel nudges his shoulder. “Right? Mr. Statistics, you love logic!”

Jason musters up a wet laugh. “Yeah I do.”

And Hazel is right. As much as he needed comfort right now, someone taking him out of that negative and irrational place in his brain helped even more. Jason works well with tangible facts, things that can’t be disputed, as they’re about the only thing that his brain can make sense of and believe over the bad thoughts.”

Jason wipes his eyes on his arm, getting the last of the wetness from his face. He gives Hazel a weak smile and she squeezes his hand again. 

“Sorry.” he says, clearing his throat. “Didn’t mean to dump all my inner turmoil on you.”

“Jason you don’t have to apologize for getting upset. I’d rather you tell me then keep it a secret and let it eat away at you, which I think is what you usually do.”

Yeah. She’s right about that. Jason is not the biggest fan of sharing his feelings. And it’s because he has some toxic masculinity complex where he thinks showing weakness makes him less of a man or anything. It’s just that Jason feels like his feelings are a burden. If he tells people about them, he’s making them deal with something he could eventually deal with on his own. Jason knows he’s wrong, and he knows his friends care and want to hear how he’s feeling, but it’s still hard. 

“I care about you Jason.” she says, “We all do. You know that, right?”

He does. He knows that right now, at this point, his friends have no knowledge about anything that happened in the past, and they care for him a lot.

“I do.”   
“Good.”   
Silence falls over them again. 

“Would you like this to stay between us?” Hazel asks. 

Jason thinks about it. “I think the specifics, yes. But I’m okay with people knowing that I’m having kind of a hard time.”

That’s a big step up for him, admitting that, and Hazel knows that. She nods.

“Thank you.” he tells her. “Seriously. Thank you.”

She smiles. “Of course.”

He chuckles a little, and pulls his hand back from Hazel’s grip. 

“Can I take you home?”

“That would be great.”

And as they collect Hazel’s things and head towards the car, Jason can’t say that everything is fixed. He can’t say that he’s not scared out of his mind, and anxious about the meet. He can’t say that he isn’t worried that his whole world is on the verge of falling apart. But now he knows at least one person will be on his side if it does. 

 

*

Jason can tell that Hazel let people know about his breakdown because the entire rest of the week, people act strangely towards him. It varies on a scale of Frank to Piper, how involved with Jason’s feelings are you? For Frank and others at that end of the spectrum, they walk on eggshells around him. Asking him how he is a lot, carrying awkwardly shallow conversations, and stuff of the sort. On the other end is Piper, who is actively and constantly involved in Jason’s feelings. He appreciates it of course, but there’s a lot of Piper trying to urge him to talk to her about his feelings, and almost babying him which he appreciates less. Jason is new to the sharing feelings thing, and he wishes people would just treat him normal, with maybe just a little extra support. Not texting him every hour or acting like he’s going to break. Nico is about the only person treating him with the same indifference he always does which Jason has come to enjoy. Well, he’s less indifferent than usual, but Jason can’t tell if that’s because Hazel spread the “Jason is having a hard time” news to him, or if he actually just likes him more than he used to. Jason knows at least a little bit of it is because of the issue at hand because the day after Hazel found him in the hallway, Jason showed up to school to find a fruit snack bag taped to his locker. There was no note, no indication of who or why someone left it for him, but Jason would bet his life that is was Nico returning the favor. The weeks fade into each other, and he wishes his friends rallying around him was enough to uncoil the knot of anxiety that tugs in his stomach. Every day he gets closer to the unavoidable wrestling meet, and he can’t do anything about it. He tries to take his mind off it, really he does, but it’s always lingering in the back of his thoughts. 

“Jason, you’re zoning out again.”

Jason blinks a couple of times before looking over to Piper, sitting on the bed beside him. He sighs. 

“Sorry.” 

She frowns. “That’s the third time today.”

“Just thinkin’ about stuff.” he hums, leaning over to press a kiss to the crown of her head. 

She messes the ring on her middle finger, and Jason can tell she’s holding her tongue. She’s thinking of something she wants to say, but she’s stopping herself. 

“Just say it.”   
She bites the inside of her cheek. “I just-” she begins. “I wish you would talk to me Jason.”

“About what?”

“About what’s going through your head! About why you’re so upset this week.”   
“I talked to you about it already.”

“Yeah, you gave me the vague details about stress for your wrestling meet, and your old school, but is that all I get?”   
Jason furrows his brows. “I don’t know why you need to know the other stuff.”   
“Isn’t that what people in relationships do? They tell each other stuff, Jason. I tell you everything!”   
“Well it’s different.” he tells her. “We’re different people, Pipes. You’re good at sharing your emotions and I’m not.”

“I know.” she says, letting her had dip down a little. “But this relationship shouldn't be one sided.”

Ouch. Okay. 

“I don’t think that me not telling you one thing that I’d prefer to keep private means I’m not invested and committed to this relationship.”

“That’s not what I meant.” Piper says, exasperatedly. “I’m sorry, that came out wrong.”

She reaches out and grabs his hand. “I’m just worried about you.”

Jason looks down at their joined hands, and his shoulders slump. He hates that he’s worrying Piper, and he hates that his personal issues are making them fight. 

“I know you are, and thank you for that. I’m just not used to people worrying about me.” Jason’s skits to her. 

Piper set her hand on his cheek and pulls him in for a slow, warm kiss. 

“I’m sorry I’m being pushy.” Piper says, lips just brushing against Jason’s. “I just want to help. What do you need from me?”

Jason kisses her once again. “You do enough already. You and our friends being there for me in any capacity is enough. And I will try my best to let you know if I need anything more than that.”

She nods. Jason still can’t help but feel guilty for making Piper feel like he isn’t as sharing as much in this relationship as she is, so he takes a deep breath and asks her:

“Will you be there for me at the meet?” he asks. He didn’t intend to ask anyone to come, in the event that things go south, but he thinks it will be okay with Piper there. She relaxes him, and he thinks that after their conversation, she gets where his boundaries are, and wants to support him in a way that he’s comfortable with. 

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyyyyyooooo!  
> An update! This one is pretty angsty, and as you can probably tell it is setting up for an absolute doozy of a chapter. The next chapter I put up will basically be the culmination of the plot I had been envisioning since I started writing this and it will reveal a bunch of stuff and start to shape the story really heavily for the jason/nico relationship we have all been waiting for! I'm so so excited and nervous to write this next chapter and I just want to thank all of u for sticking with me on the crazy journey of writing this fic! I hope to get the chapter up within a week and I hope that ya'll continue to comment, ready, and enjoy. Thank you.


	14. Heard I’d be running into you here, what a perfect time for me to ruin your life.

Jason wakes up on the morning of his meet with a sick feeling in his stomach. It’s nerves, he knows it is, and as he gets food in his system and gets ready for the day, he can slowly feel them dissipate. He also wakes up to a good luck text from Piper which makes him smile, because she would’ve had to get up at about 5 to send him something he would get right as he woke up. He spends a little time at home stretching, decompressing, and generally preparing himself for the day because the meet is at school, so he gets a little more time in the morning to himself when travel is not a factor. By the time he gets in his car, the sun is peeking up over the horizon, and Jason feels pretty okay. He’s spent the week following Hazel’s advice, rationalizing his thoughts to assure himself that this could easily be just another meet, and for the most part, he believes it. The only seed of doubt is that Jason knows the people who were involved in the incident are not his biggest fans, and if they were to show up, things would easily get out of control. So, for the most part, Jason feels fine. He knows his team is there for him, he knows he can beat any opponent they put in front of him, and he knows that his girlfriend will be there to support him. When Jason heads into the gym, he is happy to see his team, starting to set up mats and get ready for the upcoming meet. Jason heads over to Beckendorf who offers a hand to Jason, and pulls him in for a hug. Jason had explained to him after running out of the meet, and Beckendorf promised to crack any skulls of any of the dicks from his old school if need be. His words, not Jason’s. As Jason helps set up mats, and gets his regular pep talk from Coach Hedge, this meet starts to feel alright. Nothing out of the ordinary, nothing any different than the others he has attended and succeeded in throughout the semester. Jason also enlists Clarisse to practice with him a little beforehand, and that does wonders for calming down his brain. When Jason wrestles, he can finally get out of his own head; everything shuts off for a minute, and he can just tackle Clarisse to the floor in peace. 

“Every fucking time.” she grumbles, taking Jason’s hand, allowing him to help her up. “Fuck you Grace.”

Jason laughs, and she rolls her eyes at him before grumbling a few more insults about his technique and ‘pretty boy face’ which Jason has come to realize is Clarisse’s form of affection. Jason only starts to feel a little tense as people start pouring in, especially on the opposing team’s bleachers. The other team hasn’t even arrived yet, and yet the stands are filling up like this is a sold out concert. That worries Jason. Why on earth would so many people drive upwards of forty minutes to see this meet? Jason watches as they file in, and before he knows it their side starts to fill up as well.

It’s not long before the boys from Edgarton Day and Boarding School arrive and walk into the gym in a single file line. Jason’s breathing catches as he ducks his head and closely eyes the group of about 11 guys. Some are familiar to him, people he knew from classes and basketball, but none of them strike fear into his heart. Jason feels this overwhelming surge of relaxation at the fact that Hazel is probably right. Absolutely none of these guys have it out for Jason. They know about what happened, sure, but he doubts that Jack from his math class, or the guy who had a locker near his would do anything to mess up Jason’s life.

Jason heads over to his bag and pulls his water bottle, frowning at the site of the nearly empty container. 

He jogs over and claps a hand on Beckendorf’s back as he passes.    
“I’m filling up, I’ll be right back.”

Beckendorf gives him a nod, and Jason takes the side entrance out of the gym, and heads to the nearest water fountain. As soon as Jason sets his water bottle under the spout, and presses into the bar on the fountain to produce water, he is incredibly bored. At his old school they had the water fountains with a special water bottle filler, and that was much easier. That’s about the only thing Edgarton has on Goode. He glances over at the clock, and back to his water bottle which is only about half full, despite the fact Jason feels like he’s been standing at this fountain for a hundred years. Finally, he gets the bottle full, and he starts heading back. He dips his head to focus on twisting the cap on, and is only drawn up by a voice in front of him. 

“Grace. Heard I’d be running into you here.”

And the sound of that voice alone makes all of Jason’s confidence and relaxation fly out the window. He looks up, inhaling sharply at the site of Octavian. 

Jason seems to have lost the ability to speak as his brain runs around, trying to process the fact that Octavian is standing in front of him with a look that screams  _ “Heard I’d be running into you here, what a perfect time for me to ruin your life.” _

“Since when are you on the wrestling team?” Jason manages, gripping his water bottle tightly in his hand. Octavian stares him dead in the eye. 

“Since I heard you joined the one here.”

Jason’s heart drops.    
“What?”   
“You heard me.” he says simply, folding his bony arms over his chest. “I’m pretty sure we have unfinished business.”

“I- I don’t want trouble.” Jason says stumbling over his words.    
“Oh really? If you didn’t want trouble, you should’ve just stayed out of my shit in the first place. If you did, we wouldn’t be in this situation.”

Jason stares at the ground. All he was trying to do was the right thing, and he let himself get out of control. It is his fault he intervened but what else was he supposed to do? Just let Octavian get away with all the crap he does? Jason feels himself getting angry all over again at the situation, but know he really can’t do this right now. Guided by the nerves shaking through his body, he knows that falling into another confrontation with Octavian is not the right move, do he tries to shoulder past him. Unfortunately, he’s stopped by Octavian grabbing his arm. Jason looks back, and Octavian tilts his chin up to reveal a pink, almost completely faded scar. Jason’s mind flashes back to that night, the outside of the school, the tug in his gut he often feels when he thinks something wrong is going on, and he tries his hardest to shake the image of Octavian and the others that he had been suppressing for months. 

“You know I didn’t mean for it to get out of hand.” Jason mumbles, pulling away from Octavian’s grip. “Sorry.”

Octavian yells after him, but Jason tunes him out. The ringing in his ears and the pounding in his head block out even the hum of the crowd as he enters. Jason glance up to the bleachers, looking for Piper to give him any kind of solace, but as his eyes land on her, everything somehow gets worse, because she’s not alone. In some convoluted way to show that he is supported, Piper invited every one of their friends to the meet, and they’re all sitting talking away. Jason’s eyes flit from Percy and Annabeth, to Leo and an angry Calypso, all the way over to Nico wearing his jacket with the pride patch staring down at his phone. No. This is not what Jason meant when he needed support. All he wanted was for Piper to send him the texts like she did. She just made things ten times worse. One of them evidently spots him, and cheers erupt from the group. Jason gives a brief smile before, dropping it of his face and heading over to the bench. What is Octavian even planning on doing? Jumping him when the meet is over? Stopping the meet in the middle to make an announcement about how much he hates Jason? Jason has no idea. 

“You okay?” Beckendorf asks, as Jason sits beside him. “You look white as a sheet.”

“Fine.” Jason answers hollowly. “Just want to get this over with.”

Beckendorf looks at him for a second longer, and decides not to press the issue. Jason watches as Octavian heads in the door. He’s on his phone, typing furiously. Jason averts his gaze and thinks instead about what he’s going to do at the end of the meet. People will probably want to hang out, and talk to him, but Jason isn’t in the mood. After this day, he’ll just need to go home and decompress. Maybe take the whole weekend for himself. 

Coach Hedge pulls all the boys in for a team talk soon enough, and then the meet is starting and Jason is completely unfocused. He’s barely paying attention, but he’s in it enough to know that they are not doing great. 

“Fucking ringers they brought in.” Beckendorf says as he returns to the bench after being shoved down aggressively onto the mat. “At least Jason is up next to get us at least one win.”   
He knows Jason works well under pressure, which is usually true, but all the faith Beckendorf is putting in him almost makes it worse. 

“We’re counting on you, Jason.” Coach Hedge says, as Jason stands up. Jason musters up enough courage to walk up to the mat, and another knife goes into his heart when Octavian joins him up there.    
“How’re you doing this?” Jason asks, just above a whisper as they get into positions. “We’re nowhere near the same weight class.”

Octavian gives a poisonous smile. “You underestimate my ability to get what I want.”

The whistle blows, and Octavian immediately claws into Jason’s shoulders. Jason catches him by his shoulders, and the two stand locked, pressing at each other with immeasurable force. 

“I was suspended for over a month, you know that? All of us were.”

“You deserved it.” Jason says, feeling anger rise in him. He’s feels himself about to shut off his brain and tackle Octavian to the ground, but Octavian delivers a definitely illegal elbow to Jason’s stomach, and Jason doubles over in pain. He glances at the referee who he assumed would’ve called an illegal move, but he simply watches as Octavian goes for Jason again. Jason catches him by the wrists and throws him back, before bending down and heading for Octavian’s waist. 

“I got suspended from school, stitches, fucking counseling, and watched my scholarship get thrown away because of you.” Octavian roars, as Jason grabs onto his waist and tackles him to the ground. Octavian immediately rolls himself over so Jason is in his place. “You sent Bryce to the fucking hospital.”   
Jason flinches at his words and in that split second, Octavian presses his wrists into the ground and Jason loses a match of wrestling for the first time in his life. Octavian leans down and spits in his face. Jason’s hands ball up into fists and he tries to push out of Octavian’s grip, but he holds him down.

“Is that all?” Jason cries. “Is this what you wanted? To make me feel like crap?”   
“You think I’d drive the team all the way out here just to beat you in some stupid wrestling meet?” he asks. “I came here to make you feel what I felt the day I came back to school.”

He pushes off of Jason, and for the first time since Jason got on the mat, he tunes into the fact that the gym is completely silent. He stands up and takes one look at the surprised and somewhat defeated expressions on his team members face feels the sick boiling in his stomach. He feels sick because he knows this isn’t it. There’s something even worse at play and he doesn’t know what.

“Can I have everyone look under their seats?” Octavian says to the crowd. Jason watches, petrified as each person looks under their seat and pulls out a piece of paper. Jason can’t see it, but he knows what it is. He has no idea how they got that. Jason’s dad promised him. He promised that the one thing he could do for him in his life was to use all that money he has to keep the school, the parents, and the press quiet about what happened, and Jason could try and leave it all behind. Jason is unable to do anything as he teammates, his friends, his girlfriend, and every single other person in the gym read the supposedly destroyed headline:   
  


**Pasadena teen lashes out, sending one classmate to the hospital with broken bones. Sources say four others were injured in the altercation.**

 

Jason catches one glimpse of everyone looking at him like he’s a monster, and he runs out of the gym. He runs to the nearest garbage can, and throws up, the sick feeling within him only worsening as he does so. Jason just feels so much anger and pain and fear, and he wants to curl up into a ball and cry. He storms down the hallway, hand running through his hair, before he stops at his locker and punches it. He punches it again, and again, and he can feel his knuckles start to bruise.    
“Jason, wait-”   
He feels a hand on his shoulder, and Jason flinches. His elbow almost collides with Piper, but she catches it. Jason looks past her to see all his friends, giving him that scared expression and he gets angry all over again. 

“Please leave me alone.” he growls. 

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Piper says. “We want to be here for you.”   
“Why don’t you listen to me?” Jason asks, angrily, turning around to face her. “I said I want to be alone.”

And his anger just keeps building. 

“I even told you you were the only one I wanted to be here today, and you brought everyone and it made the worst day of my life that much worse. Are you happy now Piper? Are you?”   
Jason knows Piper doesn’t deserve all this anger directed at her, but he can’t find the time to care. He half expects her to start crying under his words, and although wetness pools in her eyes, her face contorts into anger. 

“You should have just told me.”

“Well now you know.” he says, wiping at hand over his eye. “I’m a monster.”   
“Jason, no one thinks that.”

He is surprised by the softness in her tone. She says it, but he knows it’s not true. Everyone sees him differently than before. 

He turns to punch the locker again, but someone grabs his wrist. 

He turns around to see Percy.    
“Stop.” Percy says, firmly. “This isn’t helping anything.”

Jason tries to push Percy off of him, but his grip stays firm. He tries harder, and Percy presses Jason into the locker, a hand on his chest. 

“Listen to me.” Percy says. “You’re scaring them.” 

Jason looks past him to see the collective worried expressions on his friends faces. 

“They all care about you so fucking much and you need to accept the fact that even though you did shit in your past that might be scary or painful to think about, no one is abandoning you.”   
Jason stays silent. 

“You’re still Jason. But if you keep punching lockers, pushing us away, and shutting people like Piper down when she tries to help, even if it’s in the wrong way, then that is you telling us you don’t want us to be here for you.”

Jason lets his eyes shut. 

“And you have the authority to take space over this issue, but you will not take it out on us.”

Jason nods slowly, and Percy drops his hands off of Jason before pulling him in for a tight hug. 

“I want space.” Jason says weakly mumbling into Percy’s ear. Percy nods, and pulls back from him. 

Percy turns around, and almost bumps into Piper, who was peering at his shoulder, but Percy ushers her back.    
“He needs space.” he tells her. He looks up at the rest of them, and they all get it. They all start to head out of the hallway. Piper gives him a sparing glance and he shares it, watching her walk away. Jason turns around, still feeling like shit, and pats at his pants, only to realize all of his things are still in the gym, and if he wanted to go home he would need to go get them. 

He can’t go back in, he can’t. He doesn’t even know what’s going on in there anymore. What could possibly be happening after he ran out? Jason debates just walking home, when someone sets a hand on his shoulder. Jason turns around to see Coach Hedge, clutching his bag, car keys, and water bottle. Jason is so relieved he could cry. 

“Thought you would want these.” Coach Hedge says, softly. 

“Thank you so much.” Jason sighs, taking them from him. 

“Those guys are dicks.” he says, and that elicits as laugh from Jason. 

“I know.”

“Son, I can’t fix anything that happened. But I know, and I think most of the folks here do, that there is more to the story. If you ever want to talk, I’m- I’m here.”

Jason nods. “Thank you Coach.”

Coach Hedge gives him another smile, and squeezes his shoulder. “Go on.”

  
Jason thinks that in the midst of this misery, Coach Hedge was sent by the angels to be the most decent man in the whole world. Jason could thank him a hundred times and it wouldn’t be enough. He quickly heads out of the school, and gets to his car to drive himself home. The second Jason makes it to his bedroom, he does what he’s been needing to do since he saw Octavian there today. He shuts the door and cries. 

*

Jason doesn’t come out of his room for hours. He watches mindlessly as his phone continue to light up with texts from different people, and he wants nothing more than to be able to just get over what happened. Because the thing is, Jason was most afraid of his friends finding out about what happened and hating him for it, but they did the opposite. His friends found out about what he did and they still care about him, so Jason is trying to figure out why he still feels the worst he ever has in his life. He thinks its because they did it without question. Nobody pressed the issue, everyone just accepted the fact Jason beat people up and sent someone to the hospital like it was nothing. That makes him feel all kinds of wrong. To some extent he desires that unconditional support from someone, the way Piper gives it to him, but at the end of the day, what Jason did was wrong. It was messed up and he hurt a lot of people, and none of his friends even cared to ask him why he did it. It just leaves Jason with a bad taste in his mouth. He flips his phone over, shutting out the world and he puts his head into his pillow. He lets out a muffled yell, before slumping down against his bed. He falls asleep at some point, feeling absolutely drained, and when he wakes up, he’s got no idea what time it is. He also doesn’t feel much better. His pain, and anxiety has edged out into a dull pain. Like a rain cloud over his head. He only gets up to get some food and use the bathroom, and then he’s getting back into his bed, and falling asleep once more. 

*

Jason is woken up by someone sitting down on the edge of his bed. He bolts upright in his bed, and is only calmed when he realizes the person sitting across from him is his sister. 

“Oh my god what are you doing here?” He asks, scrambling to sit up and hug her. Thalia wraps her arms around him warmly, giving him a tight squeeze. 

“I was summoned.” She says, simply. “Heard there was a certain blonde little bitch I needed to knock out.”

“I kind of beat you to that one.” Jason murmurs.

“Holy shit, Jason.” she laughs. “Kind of a grim time for that joke, but you saw the opportunity and I applaud you for taking it.”

He sighs. “What am I supposed to do Thalia?” He asks. “How do I come back from this?”

“Come back from what, Jason?” she asks, seriously. “I mean believe me, I know how fucking hard yesterday must’ve been for you, but there are so many people out there on your side. People who care for you no matter what”

Jason’s brows furrow. “But why? Why do they just accept the fact that I did something like that? Why is there this blind affection for me even if I’m in the wrong?”

Thalia’s face softens. “I know you don’t have a lot of experience with this, hell, neither do I, but there are some people in the world who love you unconditionally, Jay. People who will see your flaws, and things that happened in your past, and they know that you as a person are not defined by that.”

Jason processes what she’s saying, and it still doesn’t sit right with him, but he listens as she continues. 

“And I know that frustrates you because you have this idea in your head that if people see weakness and the “bad” side of you they’re just going to leave, but they’re not.”

“I get that they care for me.” Jason responds. “But how does that equate to ignoring my flaws. Why don’t they care about it or why I did it?”

Thalia shrugs. “I’m sure they just assume you had a good reason for why you did it, which you did.”

“But that still doesn’t make it okay.”

“I don’t know what to tell you.” Thalia says. “You’re the only person I know who would be mad about his friends caring for him unconditionally.”

Jason lays back on his pillow with a sigh. “Probably.”

They sit in silence for a second, before Jason thinks once again. 

“Did Piper call you? Is that why you’re here?”

Thalia snorts. “I don’t even know your girlfriend, why would she call me?” she asks. “Like I said I was summoned.”

“Aren’t you going to miss school for being here?”

“Do you think I give a shit?”

No, probably not. Jason is stupid for even asking. His sister never valued education in the way that he did. 

“Sorry stupid question.” he concedes. A beat passes. 

“I’m really glad you’re here Thalia.” he tells her. “You’re the only one I really want to see right now.”

“I thought as much.”

They spend some a long time talking, catching up, and generally getting to see each other after the months they’ve been apart, and Jason is feeling better than he has at any point during the last week. Which isn’t saying much because he’s felt terrible this whole week, but if anyone could make it better, it was his sister. He and Thalia take the whole day together before Jason even thinks about looking at his phone. It’s only at Thalia’s suggestion that he picks it up and takes a look at all of the messages he had been receiving. The group chat, was surprisingly silent, but that was only on account of the fact that all of his friends chose to message him individually. Messages from Percy, Leo, and Hazel decorated his inbox, but the only one Jason clicked was that of Piper’s. He feels he owes it to her because although he felt like he had the right to express his feelings to her, he didn’t have a right to be such a jerk.

 

**Piper**

_ Hey. I know you need space but I’m not good at watching people I care about hurt and not doing anything about it. _

**Piper**

_ So basically that’s why I’m texting you because I think it works out better than me showing up at your house.  _

**Piper**

_ I want to talk to you about a lot of things but also I don’t know what to say so sorry if I’m rambling. I’m not good at this stuff.  _

**Piper**

_ Basically I just wanted to say I care a lot about you and I hope that when you feel ready you can come over and we can talk.  _

 

Jason can’t say he enjoys the sound of this seemingly ominous ‘talk’ Piper is suggesting, but he also knows he wants to talk to her too. Mainly, he wants to apologize, but he also hopes to sort out what he wants at the moment. Because as much as it pains him to say it, Jason doesn’t know if being in a relationship is what he wants right now. It’s not that he doesn’t care about Piper or even want to be with her for that manner, it’s just that until he sorts out stuff with himself and actually feels good about how he is living his life, he thinks that it isn’t good for him to be with someone else. Jason has been in relationships before and they’ve never got as serious as the one he’s in with Piper which makes him even more inclined to think about ending it before they can hurt each other. Piper isn’t someone Jason wants to lose, and he’s thinking it is in his best interest to at least talk about the concept of breaking up with her. 

 

**Jason**

_ Is now a good time? _

 

Piper replies a minute later. 

 

**Piper**

_ Yeah. Come over.  _

 

_ * _

Piper’s house has never appeared ominous to him before today. For the first time since he’s arrived at Pipers, the sheer size of the house and the person behind the door intimidate him to no end. Jason knows dwelling on his nerves surrounding the conversation won’t do any good, so he settles on pulling up his hood and getting out of his car. On her doorstep, he hesitates again, but bites the bullet and knocks on her door, staring at his feet as he waits for Piper to answer. At least he hopes it’ll be Piper. If he’s face to face with Tristan McLean, Jason might just freeze on the spot. Then again, that might be what happens if Piper opens the door as well. 

Jason doesn’t have time to think on that because the door opens and there’s Piper standing there, and all the air rushes out of Jason’s lungs. And it happens, he freezes. He doesn’t know what to do, so thankfully, Piper makes the move and quickly wraps her arms around Jason’s waist. He squeezes his eyes shut and throws his arms around her, holding her close to his chest. 

“I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry.” He murmurs into her hair. He’s not even sure she can hear it, for how quiet he’s speaking, but he says it nonetheless. They stand on her porch for a long time. Jason’s pretty sure it’s because neither of them know how to approach this conversation or what the result of it will be, so they take their time in embracing each other. Jason formulated some thoughts in his head, and when Piper pulls back from him, he readies himself to say it. But, she cuts him off. 

“Before you say anything, I really have to get something off my chest.”

He nods, and she pulls him into the house, shutting the door behind him. Jason watches Piper as she takes a deep breath, runs a hand through her hair, and finally looks back up at him. 

“I think we should break up.”   
Jason isn’t sure he heard her right. “Wait- what?”

“It’s not because of what you did.” she says quickly, reaching out and grabbing his arm. “And it’s not because I don’t want to be with you, because Jason I do, I just think that right now, I can’t be what you need, and we shouldn’t try and force something that should happen naturally.”

“And again,” she continues before Jason can get a word in, “I don’t think we’re two completely different people and our fundamental methods of dealing with our emotions make us unable to ever date, I just think that we have to figure it out first before we do.”   
Jason feels a pang of sadness at the fact that he and Piper are about to break up, but there’s also this monumental weight lifted off of his chest. 

“I’m sorry if that hurts you, but I think it’s for the best.”

Jason reaches up to scratch the back of his neck. “Honestly Pipes, I was thinking the same thing.”

Her shoulders slump a little bit. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Jason knows he’s definitely not as eloquent with his words as Piper is when expressing feelings, but he tries his best to communicate what’s been bubbling in his brain over the last two days. 

“I’ve been a dick to you.” he starts. Piper tries to protest, but Jason ignores her. “Don’t act like I haven’t. I know I have, and I’m sorry. I haven’t really got a handle on how to react when people care about me so that’s why I kept shutting you out, which I shouldn’t have. I care a lot about you Piper, and I want to figure out how to not shut people out when things get hard, but until I do that I do not want to lose you as a result. I agree with you when you say it’ll be better for both of us if we break up for now.”   
“For now?” she asks, lips quirking up into a small smile. 

Jason rolls his eyes. “Yes, for now. If later when things are different we both still want to, we can try again.”

Piper bites her lip, the smile still evident on her face.    
“That being said,” Jason says, reaching out and stroking a hand down her arm. “I don’t want you waiting around for me.”

Piper cackles at that. “Do I seem like the type to sit around waiting for some guy?”

Jason laughs too. “No, you certainly don’t.”

Piper’s smile quickly fades into one riddled with sadness.    
“I’m going to miss you.” she says. “I know we’ll still be around each other, but-”   
That’s when the sadness hits Jason too. “No, I get it. I’m going to miss you too.”

She sighs, and Jason wraps an arm around her, pulling her to his chest once again. 

Before he can help himself, he reaches down and tilts her chin up, just enough so he can lean down and press a chaste kiss to her lips. She cradles his jaw and deepens the kiss, probably the last one they’re going to share for awhile. Maybe ever. 

Jason can feel another influx of emotions he’s not used to pouring out into the kiss, and he knows it's in his and Piper’s best interest to break it.

“You should go.” she whispers, and he nods. 

They pull apart from each other, and Jason stuffs his hands into his pockets, looking down at his shoes before back up to the girl in front of him.

“Bye Piper.”

“Bye.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW. Tea has been spilled. As you can probably tell, this isn't the end of the discussion on Jason's past and how that has shaped him as a person, it is instead the beginning! I'm so invested in this story so I keep whipping out chapters in random bursts of time. I hope you all are continuing to read, and enjoying reading them as much as I am writing them! Now that Jason and Piper are broken up, this does clear the stage for another relationship ;) but we'll just have to see where it goes! 
> 
> Thank you all so much for the overwhelming support and kindness you leave on my fic! Since this is my first time writing for percy jackson, it means a lot! 
> 
> Hope to get another update up soon!!!


	15. We all do shitty things, Jason

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: This chapter includes descriptions of violence and implied homophobia  
> Both of these are included in the italics 'flashback' section so feel free to skip over that if you need!

Quite out of character for him, Jason decides to skip school for the next couple of days. Well. Is it really skipping if he has Thalia call him in sick with the flu, and forces Leo to get all of his homework for him? It’s the Jason Grace equivalent of skipping. Jason’s still not ready to face the outside world; the closest he gets is facing his best friend who refused to get homework for him unless he let him come over. 

“Leo, come on.”   
“I will not take no for an answer, Jason!” Leo shoots back. “If I have to go through making small talk with your teachers, rather than sitting in the back of their classes and talking shit about them, I get to see my best friend.”

Jason knows this is a fight he will never win, so he sighs into the phone.    
“Fine.”

“Good.” Leo says with a grin. “I’m stopping by your math class, and then I’ll be over in a flash.”

*   
As promised, Leo is ringing his doorbell in a time so short after the phone call, Jason is surprised Leo has yet to be arrested for his driving. 

“There’s my boy.” Leo grins, wrapping his arms around Jason. Jason hugs him back, chuckling a little into Leo’s shoulder. “Glad to see you’re alive, big guy.”

“Barely.” Jason comments, and Leo rubs his back softly.

“Oh now I know you’ve got more resilience than that.”

Leo pulls back, and takes off his backpack, offering it to Jason. “After all, you’ve got some shit to do.”

Jason takes the backpack from him and ushers him inside. Jason decided to keep it under wraps that Thalia is here so she’s out and about doing her own thing, leaving the house to Jason and Leo. 

Jason takes a seat at the dining room table, setting Leo’s backpack right in front of him. 

“So, how’ve you been?” Leo asks, trying his hardest to breach the subject of what happened over the weekend.

“How do you think I’ve been?”

Leo sighs, taking the seat next to Jason. “Not great, I assume.”

“You would be right.”

I’m sorry dude.” Leo says, offering as much compassion as he knows how to. He sets his hand on Jason’s back and rubs it again. It soothes Jason a little, so he lets Leo continue. “I heard about you and Piper.”

“Does everyone know?” Jason asks. 

“About you and Piper? Pretty much. Our friends don’t know how to keep their mouths shut.”

“No, I mean-” Jason sighs, avoiding Leo’s gaze on him. “About the other thing.”   
“Oh.” Leo says, a little softer. “Uh, I don’t want to lie to you. I think a lot of people found out by word of mouth, but no one has been talking about you bad or anything.”

Jason’s stomach churns, but he knows it could be a lot worse than this. He’s come to terms with the fact that he’d rather have people know and still care for him, than have them hate him as a result. 

“If they did, I’m pretty sure the two-woman defense squad of Hazel and Piper would’ve shut that down immediately.”

Jason smiles at that. He’s very grateful for the women in his life. 

“How did it go collecting my homework?” Jason asks. He knows Leo isn’t the most competent on tasks that don’t interest him, so he’s surprised that Leo seemingly managed to get all of it. 

“Fine.” Leo shrugs, as Jason begins to sort through the papers in Leo’s backpack. “I mean your English teacher is an asshole, but it was fine.”

“Why is she an asshole?”

“She was all like ‘I don’t know who you are.’” Leo imitates his teacher’s higher voice. “‘I’m not going to give some random ass student Jason Grace’s homework. Begone thot!’”

“I’m 100% sure she did not say that.”

“Well that’s what it felt like.” Leo shrugs. “Anyways, I got banished, so I talked a little with Calypso and she went and got it for me.”

Jason raises his eyebrows. “Wait you willingly interacted with her? For me?”

“I did what I had to do.”

“How was it?”

“How was what?” Leo asks. “Interacting with Calypso?”

“Mhm.”

“It sucked ass, why?”

Jason shrugs. If anything could take his mind off his own current problems, it would be fixating on Leo and his all too amusing interactions with girls. “I don’t know it seemed like the interaction was civil enough.”

Leo, ever the clueless, does not really pick up on the fact that Jason thinks there is a part of Leo that really doesn’t hate Calypso, but actually likes her.

“I guess.” he shrugs. “I mean it was a lot better than before, but I still wouldn’t consider her a friend. For one, she leaves all her half-made robots everywhere, and when she gets frustrated she just throws them away. I mean, I spend half of my time pulling her robots out of the trash, and tweaking one little thing to fix them so that she will start working on them again.”

 

Jason can’t help the little smile on his face. Even if Leo isn’t harboring some secret crush on Calypso, and he does indeed hate her, Jason thinks that shows even more on Leo’s part. Leo is a fixer by nature. Sure he grew up working in an auto body shop, but more than that, he has this innate desire to fix problems, whether that be with people or machines. Leo will continue to fix Calypso’s robots so she doesn’t give up, even though he dislikes her. And he has yet to stop trying to fix Jason’s problems, even when most of them are out of his control. Jason waves away his inner monologue about his best friend as Leo continues to ramble on. 

“And she still gives me those stupid passive aggressive comments during club and at lunch, but there’s no more arguing/yelling matches at the table if that’s what you’re referring to.”

“That’s good to hear.” Jason replies, after tuning back into the conversation. “That was getting a little out of hand.”

“You’re telling me.” He gripes. “You think a girl would have more manners. I mean at least more than me.”

Leave it to Leo to completely take Jason’s mind off of everything. He allows Jason to dig out his homework and then the two them of them sit and work on their own stuff together. Leo doesn’t push for Jason to share anything, and he also doesn’t aggressively try to distract Jason from his feelings. All he does is sit there, and be present with him in such a normal way and Jason really appreciates that. It’s exactly what he needed. Jason invites Leo to stay for dinner, but he respectfully declines. 

“Promised mom I’d be back in time for dinner.” Leo says, pulling his backpack over his shoulders. “Are you going to be in school tomorrow?”

Jason shakes his head. “I’m called in sick until Wednesday.”

“I’m surprised Beryl was down for that.”

Jason shrugs, not wanting to go into the fact that Thalia called him in. 

“I mean I’ve never missed a day of class in sixteen years so I guess three isn’t that big of a deal.”

Leo laughs. “Fair point.”

He gives Jason a grin and pulls him in for a hug. 

“So I’ll see you Thursday?”   
Jason nods. “Maybe sooner if I need more homework.”   
“Sounds good.”

Leo gives him another hug, and then heads out. 

 

**Jason**

_ Leo is gone. You can come back whenever u want _

**Thalia**

_ Thx allowing me back in my own house _

**Jason**

_ It was your idea to keep you being here a secret! _

**Thalia**

_ Lol I know I’m kidding _

**Thalia**

_ I’ll be home in about an hour _

_ * _

Jason spends all of Tuesday and Wednesday morning with Thalia, before she decides that she should probably be going back to school. She assures Jason that she cares much more about him than school, but that her roommates are probably wondering where she is, and she’s skipped enough times already that she should probably show her face in classes so they don’t think she dropped out. After saying goodbye to her, Jason realizes it’s about time for him to go back to school as well. These past couple of days were really good for Jason. He’s still worried about what it will be like when he actually goes back to school and obviously the weekends events and his friends reactions weigh on his mind, but it's leveled out. His good thoughts and feelings are rivaling those now. 

 

Jason decides that because it is Wednesday, he wants to ease himself back in to going to school with play rehearsal. At rehearsal, he’s surrounded by people who don’t know him very well and are less likely to have heard about what happened and he’ll be spending most of his time backstage. Jason also thinks that his teacher might flip if he doesn’t show up as they are slowly getting closer until the show opens. He changes into a hoodie and slips on his shoes, as school is about to get out. Jason makes sure to get his backpack with his script in it, as well as his glasses so if need be, he can keep his head down by looking at his lines. He’s fine all the way up until he gets there. He arrives about five minutes before school is set to get out because he’s trying his best to avoid running into everyone, and the nerves hit as he steps outside. He feels this residual anxiety balling up in his chest, which he chocks up to how terrible the last time he was here was. Nevertheless, Jason takes a deep breath and wills himself to walk through the doors. The halls are quiet, which Jason can’t be more thankful for. He pulls his hood up, and shoves his hands in his pockets, before making the trek to the theater. On his way, he passes Coach Hedge’s office door. Jason glances in to see Coach Hedge going through some papers on his desk. He’s about to keep walking, but he thinks for a second and steps into the office. Jason knocks on the open door and Coach Hedge jumps a little in his seat. 

“I really don’t mean to keep scaring you.” Jason says, pulling his hood down. Coach Hedge’s face of surprise softens to a small.    
“Grace. We’ve missed you these past couple of days.”   
“Yeah, sorry.” Jason says, running a hand through his hair. “I’ve been-”

“Sick?” Coach Hedge asks with a little wink. Jason chuckles. 

“Yeah, sick.” Jason affirms. 

“I’m glad to see you’re feeling better.” 

“I am. Thank you.”   
“So..” Coach Hedge says, a little awkwardly. He shuffles some paper as if he really doesn’t know what to do with himself.  “I know that this weekend may have put you off it, but if you’re ever feeling like you want to come back, there is a place on the team for you.”   
Jason is hesitant to come back, but the offer from Coach Hedge still makes him feel a little warm inside.    
“Thanks coach. I’m not sure what I’m going to do, but- if I ever do, I’ll let you know.”   
Coach Hedge gives a curt nod. 

Jason glances over at the clock, and there’s about a minute before the final bell rings. 

“Hey, I’ve got to go, but I just wanted to say hi.”

Coach Hedge smiles. “Glad you did, son. Now, go on.”

Jason gives him a smile, before pulling his hood up and heading back out into the hallway. The theater is close enough so Jason makes it in time, slipping inside just as the bell rings. It’s dark, and a little spooky being the first one in, There’s a light shining in the back and that and his phone light are about the only reason Jason finds the light switch without tripping over his own feet. He sits down at the front of the audience, and awaits the influx of students to come pouring in. It’s about a minute later when people start arriving, and Jason sits in an anxious silence. Travis Stoll sits himself right down beside Jason, and claps him on the back.

“You’ve been playing hooky.” he says, elbowing Jason with a grin. “Mad respect. I promised my mom that me and Connor wouldn’t skip on the same day so we’ve been alternating. And while he’s been skipping sixth period these past two days, I’ve had to be in class.”   
A grin finds its way onto Jason’s face. “I’m sure that’s been very hard on you.”

“It really has.” Travis laughs. “But you know what, it’s hump day, I tried on some stupid ass tights yesterday, and I’m glad to see my guy Jason back in school, so I’m not the worst one in rehearsals anymore.”   
And for that split second, Jason thinks that everything will just go back to normal. His conversation with Travis almost erases the idea that people will have found out what happened. 

But then, everyone else starts to pour in, and as much as Jason tries to tune in to Travis, who is pretty much carrying the conversation between him and Jason on his back, Jason can’t help but notice the whispers. He glances behind him, and he feels that familiar feeling of people looking at him, and looking away the second Jason notices. It feels like his first day at Goode all over again, but these whispers are different. They’re not talking about how hot Jason is; they’re talking about the fact he beat up five kids at his old school, everyone found out, and he ran out of the wrestling meet with tears in his eyes and a knot in his stomach. Jason didn’t take Travis for a perceptive person, but he cuts himself off and glances behind as well, taking note of the gossip happening behind them.

“You know what all this shit is about?” he asks, motioning behind them. “Cause I’ve got no fuckin’ clue.”

“Uh no.” Jason says, clearing his throat. “I’ve been gone, remember?”

“Oh yeah, forgot.” he says, offering a fist out to Jason, who bumps it. “Mad respect again for the skipping.”

The two of them carry light conversation, and Jason is excited to just go through with rehearsal, because the sooner he does that, the sooner he can loosen the tension in his shoulders, back at home in bed. Things start moving quickly from there, and their teacher tells them they’ll be doing a loose run through of the show. Jason happily obliges that plan because that means Jason will spend most of his time backstage, just sitting on his own away from the whispers. He heads back and sits on one of the chairs backstage, pulling out his script and getting ready for the play to begin. 

*

After Jason’s first scene, he exits the stage and heads back to his chair and script which thankfully remained untouched. He picks it up and sits back in his corner, making sure to get comfortable, as he doesn’t go onstage for at least a couple of acts. 

“I’m surprised you’re here.” a voice comes, making him jump. Jason glances to his left to see Nico, slipping a headset around his neck. Jason had noticed that he was absent in the beginning of rehearsal, so he must’ve just arrived. “I was starting to think you went into the witness protection program.”

Jason rolls his eyes, but a smile is tugging at his lips. “I’m gone, what, three days and your immediate thought is that I’ve changed my name and gone into hiding?”

“Well, you didn’t answer my text.” Nico says, simply. He says it so nonchalantly, but Jason can feel this undertone of something else within it. He seems offended Jason didn’t answer him, which makes Jason feel guilty. 

“I didn’t answer anyone’s.” Jason tells him. “I’ve been kind of... preoccupied.”

“I would imagine.”

“What did it say?” Jason asks, reaching into his back pocket to pull it his phone. “I’ll answer it now.”

“Not necessary.” Nico says, quickly. “Honestly, I’d just delete it if I were you.”

“Why?”

Now it’s Nico’s then to roll his eyes. “It was when you were feeling bad, and now you’re okay, so it’s not relevant anymore.”

Jason chuckles. “I think you’re just trying to erase all evidence of you being nice to me.”

“Now you’re catching on.” Nico says, before turning back to his script. 

Jason is tempted to pull out his phone and actually look at Nico’s message, but he restrains himself. Thinks he’ll look at it later because, if he’s being honest, he’s afraid that if he looks at a text saying something nice to him, he’ll get hit with an involuntary blush, and that’s something he’s rather avoid at this moment in time. 

He instead bides his time by trying to read through his script, which is pretty difficult in the dark, and watching Nico do his thing. He looks so.. at ease, as he mumbles into the headset and and motions people on and offstage. Jason can’t think of a time in the past couple of weeks that he’s felt even a quarter as comfortable and at ease as Nico looks being backstage. He runs a hand through his hair and glances back at Jason, who was unabashedly watching him, and Jason gives him a grin and a thumbs up. Nico rolls his eyes and turns back around and Jason can’t help but chuckle to himself. He’s found that making Nico roll his eyes at him or give him those indifferent biting comments actually amuses Jason endlessly. Makes him focus on something else rather than what’s swirling around in his own brain. Before he knows it, it’s his turn to go on again, and from there, the rest of rehearsal is pretty painless. As there was bits of stopping and starting, they don’t make it all the way to the end, so Jason didn’t even have to go onstage for his final time. Their teacher gives them a short talk at the end, and the second she’s done, Jason grabs his backpack, pulls up his hood once again, and starts to head out. 

“Jason-“ Nico’s voice stops him, and he glances back to see the shorter boy walking behind him. 

“Could I get a ride home?”

“Course, man.”

They walk quietly, side by side, as they head out to Jason’s car. They also get in quietly, and still do not talk as Jason pulls out onto the road. Jason feels awkward. There’s a good amount of tension that seemingly just appeared between them, and Jason is a hundred percent sure it’s not coming from him. It isn’t until he’s parked in front of Nico’s house that Nico takes off his seat belt, but makes no move to get out. 

“Can I ask you something?” He asks. “I’ve been debating it, because I’m pretty sure me asking is crossing some sort of boundary, but I want to know.”

Okay, Jason’s guessing this is what all the awkward silence was about. Without much to lose, Jason nods. 

“Shoot.”

“Why?”

“Why, what?”

“Why’d you beat up those guys?”

And in that silence, you can hear a pin drop. 

“I know Hazel said we’re just supposed to be supportive and I am, really,” He says, quickly. “Just knowing you now, I want to understand why you did it.”

As much as Jason had been waiting for this question, he never in his life expected to actually be answering it. He hadn’t formulated anything to say, he hadn’t thought in advance so he didn’t trip over all his words, and he definitely didn’t expect to have to explain himself with Nico Di Angelo staring at him. 

Jason stares down at his lap for a second. 

“If you don’t want to answer, you don’t have to.”

“No.” Jason says quickly. “I- I want to.”

Jason takes a deep breath through his nose, before glancing back up at Nico. 

“I just want to start by saying Octavian and his friends were not good guys. They were the most popular kids in school, super rich, could really get away with anything they wanted, even the shitty stuff.”

“My least favorite kind of person.” Nico says dryly. 

“Exactly. So they would kind of go out of their way to bully people. Not in the physical kind of way but small things like name calling, tripping, excluding that kind of stuff, and it always got under my skin. There’s nothing I hate more than people thinking they’re better than others, and using that authority to treat them bad.” 

“I usually made off handed comments to try and express distaste, or maybe told a few teachers about what I saw them doing, but for the majority of the time I did nothing. In school I mostly kept my head down because I was there to focus on schoolwork and academics. And it’s not like any of it really made a difference, because they continued to get away with that stuff, but at the same time, I continued to have that sick feeling in my gut.”

Nico stayed quiet, listening intently at Jason all but pours his heart out to him. 

“So this kind of stuff continued for the past couple of years, and I didn’t realize, but how unhappy it made me bubbled up inside me, and came to a head one night when I was leaving basketball practice.”

  
~

_ Jason ran a towel through his semi-dry hair, and then picked up his watch. Glancing at the time, he sees it’s just past eight, and he’s raring to get home and back to his homework. He’s been working on a paper for the past couple of nights, and is about to write the conclusion as soon as he gets home, and that’s always a gratifying moment for Jason. He gathers up his backpack, and shoves his clothes into it so they sit on top of his textbook, before slipping on his glasses, saying a final goodbye to the other guys left in the locker room and heading out. It’s a perfectly normal night, and the school is calm and quiet.  _

 

_ It’s only when Jason steps outside that his calm quiet is interrupted. It’s faint, yes, but Jason can clearly hear the sound of someone crying out for help. He furrows his brows and glances around, looking to see if anywhere in front of the school he can spot someone hurt, but he can’t. Jason knows there is a paper waiting for him at home, but he can’t go. Never in good conscience could Jason just leave someone who might be hurt. Jason listens again for the sound of crying, and he hears other voices. He follows the trail by ear, and soon he’s turning the corner of the school, and a group of people come into view. From what Jason can make out, there’s about five or so guys, guys from his grade surrounding a couple of freshman at the wall. Jason can’t see very well what’s going on, but he knows it isn’t good. He recognizes Bryce immediately, the guy in the center, and he really gets under Jason’s skin. Octavian, next to him, also isn’t on Jason’s favorite person list. Jason can’t tell what’s happening, but he feels that pull in his gut again, so he continues to walk over. _

_ “Hey guys, what’s going on?” Jason calls, when he’s about twenty feet away. Heads turn to regard him, and a devilish smile cracks onto Bryce’s face.  _

_ “Why? You want to join in Grace?” _ _  
_ _ Oh I doubt it, Jason thinks, but he doesn’t say it. _

_ “I’m just here to check if everyone is okay.” _

_ The smile slips form Bryce’s lips. “We’re fine. Go home.” _ _  
_ _ As Jason continues to walk forward, Bryce’s face gets a little angrier. “I said. Go home, Grace.” _

_ Jason wondered what could’ve made him so adamant to get Jason out of there, but then he saw. He got just close enough to see the two boys pressed up the wall and his stomach drops. The two boys have badly blackened eyes, ripped clothing, what looks to be cigarette burns decorating their arms, and homophobic slurs, that fuel a deep dark anger in Jason, written across their foreheads.  _

_ “What the hell are you doing?” Jason demands, trying to muscle past the other guys. He’s a fair bit taller than him, but they push him back from their circle.  _

_ Octavian sneers at him. “Does it look like any of your fucking business?” Octavian asks. “Because last I checked, you were going home, and we were taking care of some little pricks.” _

_ One of the other guys goes in for another hit, striking one of the freshman in the ribs, and that painful cry, makes Jason feel like his brain is combusting. Jason tries to shove through again, and he makes eye contact with the one slumped, clutching his gut. _

_ “Okay, that’s enough.” Jason says, grabbing Bryce’s shoulder and turning him to face him. “What did these guys ever do to you?’ _

_ Bryce opens his mouth to answer but Jason cuts him off. “You know what- I don’t even care what you think a good enough reason to be doing this is, because there isn’t one. No matter what happened you shouldn’t lay a hand on them.” _

_ “Who are you? Their mommy?” Bryce asks, shoving Jason off of him.  _

_ Despite being about five inches taller, and significantly larger overall, Jason stumbles back at the contact. Bryce turns back around and continues to ignore Jason who is right behind him in seconds. Jason sets his hand on Bryce’s shoulder a second time, but it does not go over as well. Bryce immediately grabs Jason’s wrist and twists his arm back until it’s completely turned around, which sends a searing pain through Jason’s arm.  _ _  
_ _ “Touch me again, and you’re dead.” _

_ Jason pulls back from his grasp and grapples through his pockets for his cellphone, feeling the situation will only escalate from here if he doesn’t do something.  _

_ “Well if you’re not going to stop, I’m just going to call the cops.” Jason announces, punching the three digit number into his phone. _

 

_ For being ignored a second ago, Jason certainly became the center of attention after that little line. Jason doesn’t even have time to press the call button before his phone is knocked out of his hand, a harsh blow to his face cracks his glasses, and he’s tossed into the circle with the other boys.  _

 

_ From there, things get… blurry. Jason remembers another punch to his stomach, the guy beside him shakily grasping at Jason for some sort of protection and slipping his hand into his, and a blinding amount of rage coursing through his body before he blacks out. And it’s not that Jason blacks out and collapses to the ground. It's the kind of black out where his brain shuts off but his body does not. WHen he comes to, his fists are covered in bruises and his enemies are sprawled out in the ground at varying levels of consciousness. Jason, horrified, looks from Octavian bleeding from his chin, to the other guys with black eyes and scratches. It’s only when he tunes into the ungodly sound of Bryce wailing that Jason turns to see his arms bent at angles they really shouldn’t be bent at. He goes into shock. Hands shaking, trembling, eyes watering, and he can’t speak. He can’t do anything because although Jason can’t remember anything that happened, he knows he did this. He looks to the other boys who were stuck in the middle of the circle, and they’re looking at him with the exact fear they looked at Bryce and Octavian with. ‘This is bad’ is all Jason can think. This is bad bad bad bad. Jason barely gets his hands to stop shaking enough to rush back to where his phone was discarded. He immediately hits the call button.  _ _  
_ _ “Please please please please.” Jason whispers into the receiver as the phone rings. He looks helplessly at the two boys huddled by the wall, and a tear slips down his cheek. He pulls off his glasses just as the police dispatcher answers his call. After getting through and somehow managing to get out the information he needed to, Jason runs back to the boys, apologizing under his breath, and trying to tend to them as best as he can before the police and ambulance arrive.  _

 

_ ~ _

“T-that’s what happened.” Jason says. “Everyone slowly pieced together what happened and that the bullying from those guys are what had started the situation, so they were punished and I wasn't.  But that didn't even matter to me. It was just _so_ awful. My uh- my dad isn’t really in my life, but he has a lot of influence so he made all the press and the lawsuits go away so I could start over at Goode.”

Jason breathes shakily. 

“That’s why I didn’t want anyone to know. Even though my dad covered it up, I still had to live with it everyday.”

 

Jason feels like he could cry again, but he knows very well that he is out of tears, at least for awhile. When he looks up, Jason doesn’t know what he expects to see. Actually he does, he expects Nico to stare at him all scared like everyone else did, but he doesn’t. Nico is staring at him with that same thoughtful, attentive expression he often wears. 

“Holy shit.” is what Nico says after a long time. “He really did deserve to get his arms broken.”

“No, Nico. No he didn’t.”

“Yes he did!” Nico shoots back. “What a fucking terrible person.”

“I’m no better.” Jason murmurs, staring back at his lap. Nico gapes at him.

“Hey look at me.” he says, and Jason does. “Do you honestly believe that?”

Jason sighs. “No. I don’t think I’m as bad, but I definitely stooped to his level.”

“We all do shitty things,  Jason.” Nico tells him. “Yeah you beat up those guys, which is not great. I’m not going to sit here and tell you that wasn’t a little fucked up, but you also saved two kids from more torture. You prevented future bullying at your school. You stood up for the people no one else was standing up for, and you did the right thing.” 

Jason feels his face getting really hot. 

“Doesn’t that count for something?”

Nico makes it all sound so logical. He doesn’t excuse Jason’s behavior, but he also gets why Jason did what he did. And just like that, another weight is lifted off of his chest. Jason feels like he can exhale. 

“I guess, yeah.” Jason says with a weak shrug. 

“You’re still upset.” Nico states. “Emotions aren’t my strong suit, but I can tell that much.”

And while he’s at it with all the heart pouring, Jason decides he should just let Nico in on the other thing that haunts him. 

“I just- I lost control then.” Jason tells him. “And I don’t know how to make sure I don’t do it again.”

Something seems to dawn on Nico.

“That’s why you overcompensate with the controlling things like homework and emotions and stuff now."

Jason furrows his brows. “Well I wouldn’t say I-”

“Oh that’s wasn’t a question.”

Jason scoffs a little, and Nico gives him a sly smile. 

“I don’t know what to tell you, Jason. I doubt that’s something I can help you with.”

“You’re probably right. I guess it was worth a shot.”

Nico leans over and pats him on the arm gently. Jason knows that doesn’t seem like much, but Nico tends to shy away from any kind of physical contact, so Jason is pretty sure this is Nico’s equivalent of a ten minute hug. 

“Thanks for telling me.” he says, simply. 

Jason chuckles a little. “What can I say? You’ve got great listening ears.”

Nico rolls his eyes. It seems to be a habit of theirs, sharing unwarranted deep talks with each other.

“I just wanted to give you a chance to talk to someone about it.” Nico tells him. “Well, someone in our friend group I mean, because I know Thalia has been here with you too.”

Wait.

“How did you know Thalia was here?” 

Nico bites down on his lip, avoiding Jason's eyes. “Lucky guess?”

Jason must be the grinch, because he feels his heart grow three freaking sizes.    
“You called her?” Jason asks, voice filled with so much gratitude.

“It’s not a big deal.” Nico waves it away. “Percy and Annabeth were busy with our friends, and I know your sister pretty well, so I think it was pretty obvious I should call her during the worst weekend of your life. You weren’t even supposed to know it was me.”

Jason gives him a soft smile.    
“Thank you anyways.”

Nico gives him a nod. “Seriously, don’t even worry about it.”

Nico glances at his phone, and sees how long they’ve been sitting there, is probably much longer than he anticipated.    
“Well. I better go.” he says, tucking his phone into his pocket.    
He reaches over once again, and pats Jason on the arm, giving it a warm squeeze. 

“You’ll be at school tomorrow?” he asks, pushing the passenger door open. 

“That’s the plan.”   
“Good. We’ve missed you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter! She's a whopper. I know the big chapter was the reveal, but I think the aftermath from that is just as, if not more important to kind of unpack all the issues we have swirling around in poor little Jason's head.  
> Jason will be returning to school in the next chapter which will be a lot of fun! I see the fic going through the end of the semester so we've got a lot more in store coming up! This story is a lot longer than I anticipated so I appreciate ya'll for sticking around.  
> Thank you all once again for reading, commenting, and enjoying. It means the world.  
> I hope to update again soon!


	16. I love you guys a lot just wanted to let you know

As Jason steps out of his car, the feeling in his stomach is akin to the way it felt on his first day at Goode high school. A fluttery nervousness, and a hope that Goode will welcome him with open arms. The difference though, is that this time Jason has been here before. He has friends, classmates, and for better or for worse, a lot of history inside those doors, and underneath his second first day of school nerves, he has a pull of confidence knowing what’s waiting for him that pulls him stronger than anything else. He walks confidently up to the building, and yeah people are whispering, but Jason ignores it and heads straight to his locker. 

As soon as he reaches said locker, he is latched onto by a small but very strong, unknown force. 

Jason glances down at the long braids currently smushed up into his chest and he smiles. 

“You abandoned me.” Hazel moans, banging her head against Jason’s chest. “Do you know how insufferable three days of homeroom was without you?”

Jason laughs, and wraps his arms around her as well. “You’re acting like you didn’t have it for a month on your own before I transferred here.”

Hazel makes a face at him, and he laughs again.

  
Since last night when he put his feelings out in the open, Jason has found it so much easier to just... be. He can laugh, and live his life to the fullest in a way he wasn't doing before. And it's so much easier for him to think about just how lucky he is to have the life he does, and the people in that life as well. As Jason allows Hazel to  drag him to their first class, he pulls out his phone and opens up the group chat that hasn’t been used in days. 

 

_ Jason renamed the chat “greatest people on earth” _

 

**Jason**

_ I love you guys a lot just wanted to let you know _

**Percy**

_ We love u too _

**Piper**

_ <3 _

**Leo**

_ We’re the greatest people on just the earth? Are you saying there’s alien life forms out there that are better than us? _

**Reyna**

_ Oh shut up and let Jason be sweet _

**Leo**

_ I’m kidding I’m kidding _

**Leo**

_ Luh you my dude _

 

“I like your hair.” Jason says, to hazel beside him. “When did you change it?”

Hazel smiles, and pulls her long braids over her shoulder. “I got it done on Monday, which you would have known if you had been at school.”   
“Hey give me a break, Hazel.” Jason says, shoving her arm lightly. “Doesn’t experiencing a traumatic event warrant skipping school for a few days?”   
Jason even surprises himself with that one. Talking about what happened in such a casual manner is not something he expected to be doing so soon, or at all. 

“You know I’m kidding.” Hazel says, shoving him back. 

And just like that, Jason fades back into the routine he had built up over the last few months. In math, Annabeth and their teacher get into a heated discussion about a word problem focusing on a building that Annabeth argues is too dumb of a question to actually apply to real life as the problem intended, and in theatre his teacher announces that next week they will begin having rehearsals every single day after school. It’s only after Jason’s third period class when it’s time for lunch, and Jason comes to the realization that although he is about to see his friends, he’s also about to see his ex girlfriend who he hasn’t seen or talked to since their breakup. He doesn’t expect it to be bad, because he knows himself, and he knows Piper, but still, he’s not sure how it’ll go. Jason is fully anticipating the meeting and spends his time at his locker psyching himself up, but as he pulls out his lunch, a ring covered hand with black nails slaps his locker closed and announces to Jason:

“We’re skipping lunch.”

Jason turns to Nico, and pulls his backpack on a little higher on his shoulders. “I just skipped three days, I don’t think I can afford anymore.”

Nico rolls his eyes. “Let me rephrase- we’re not skipping, we’re just acting on our upperclassmen privilege to go outside for lunch.”

“But it’s cold outside.”

“We’re getting in a car.” Nico says, slipping his arm around Jason’s bicep and pulling him from his spot. “Why’re you making this so difficult?”

Jason laughs. A little part of him wants to make it even harder for Nico to get him somewhere because the little annoyed face he gets makes Jason laugh, but the bigger part of Jason started to comply the second Nico touched him. 

“Sorry, I’m new at this whole being a bad boy thing.”

Nico gives him a look, and continues to drag him along.    
“Where are we going?” Jason asks. “Am I driving?”

“Percy’s driving.”

Oh. Jason didn’t realize Percy was coming. 

“I didn’t know Percy was coming.”

“Well it’s me and Percy’s thing.” Nico tells him. “But I wanted you to come, so I’m bringing you too.”

They’ve reached the school entrance and Nico shows his school ID to the teacher standing at the door making sure no underclassmen are sneaking out. As Jason didn’t anticipate leaving school, he doesn’t have his ID ready, and he makes and embarrassing show of pulling back from Nico’s grasp, and going through his backpack. And yeah, he definitely exaggerated digging out his wallet, and producing the ID card that allows him through, but Jason is really quite easily amused when it comes to Nico looking at him like a teenager embarrassed by their dad. 

“Why are you like this?” Nico scowls at Jason’s antics. “I regret asking you to come.”

“Oh don’t say that.” Jason says, laying a hand over his heart. “That hurts.”

Nico rolls his eyes, and slips his hand back around Jason’s arm, and the two of them walk to Percy’s car. 

The gesture doesn’t go unnoticed by Jason. Jason knows that yesterday him and Nico kind of leveled up friendship wise, but Jason didn’t expect the change to be so obvious. Nico is ten times more comfortable with Jason than he ever was before. And Jason thinks he doesn’t try to act like they’re not friends which he is definitely okay with. As someone who has been trying to get on Nico’s good side since day one, he’s happy to have finally elbowed his way in. 

Percy’s already inside the car when they get there, and Jason is happy to slide in the backseat to get away from the cold air outside. Nico sticks his hand through the door and Percy grabs it, helping him step inside and sit down.

  
Percy then reaches his hand back to Jason who grabs it. Percy squeezes his hand and gives him a wide smile. “Thanks for joining us Jason.”

“Thanks for having me.”

It’s only after they’ve driven onto the main road that Jason asks:

“So is this some kind of underground Goode high boys club?” He’s half joking, but with Nico and Percy he never can tell. 

“What do you think this is?” Percy asks, “Dead Poets Society?”

“Oh I  _ wish _ this was like Dead Poets Society.” Nico moans. “This is much less cool. And less gay, which is unfortunate.”

“All we do is drive, bro.” Percy tells him. “Usually around the lake.”

“Basically we started doing this after I confessed my love to Percy.” Nico explains. Oh yeah, Jason forgot about the whole Nico previously being in love with Percy thing. “He snuck me out and we went on a drive. I thought we were going to fuck, but he let me down gently and we just talked and hung out instead.”

Jason smiles at that. It’s a pretty sweet story. 

“It’s just a little time for us to breathe.” Nico says, turning back to look at Jason. “I thought it would be good for you.”

Jason nods. “Yeah it is. Thanks, man.”

Nico gives a hint of a smile and turns back. 

Percy turns on some music, which plays at a low tempo, and the boys spend their lunchtime talking and admiring the wind causing small waves along the lake. Jason eats his lunch in the back, and contentedly listen to Percy and Nico debate over some game or tv show he knows nothing about. Lunch goes unfairly fast, but Percy takes his sweet time driving back to school. Jason should’ve realized he was the only who cared about being on time to class, because he barely has time to thank the guys before he scoots off to class. He hurries around the corner, seeing there’s about a minute before class is set to begin, and Jason stops himself at the door, a split second before he runs into someone. And when he sees who the person is, his heart catches a little in his throat. 

“Sorry Piper.” he finds himself saying.

She looks up at him, a little disheveled, hair falling in her face. Jason physically resists the urge to reach out and brush her hair back.

“My fault.” she says, reaching up and brushing the hair back herself. “Wasn’t looking where I was going.”

Jason knew that seeing Piper again would invoke some feelings, but he didn’t expect it to feel like a dull ache in his chest. He wishes he stopped liking her the second they broke up, but the feelings are definitely still there. 

“You go ahead.” she tells him. He complies, and steps through the door just as the bell rings. Piper shuffles in after him. He quickly slides into his seat beside Leo. He glances back at Piper who hesitates, like  _ visibly _ hesitates before taking the seat beside Jason. 

“This isn’t weird, right?” Piper asks.

Jason sighs. “Piper, just because we broke up doesn’t mean we have to avoid each other like the plague.” he mumbles, as class is getting started. “We were friends first.”

“I know.” she whispers back, “But in between ‘friends’ there was third base and a tearful breakup, so I think this situation warranted a ‘this isn’t weird.”

Jason chuckles a little. “Alright you’ve made your point.” he concedes. “No. This isn’t weird.”

Piper nods. “Not weird.”

Jason’s phone buzzes.

**Leo**

_ It’s a little weird.  _

And Jason promptly ignores Leo’s text.

*

The rest of class was… fine. It wasn’t awkward persay, but if Jason had a nickel for every time him and Piper caught the other staring, he’d be pretty well off. Leo continued to text him his ongoing commentary on the situation, which wasn’t appreciated, but it kept him from saying all that stuff out loud which Jason decided was better. Jason isn’t going to say he loves the new dynamic between him and Piper, but it’s something to get used to. All he has to do is adjust. His last two classes are calm, and easy, and before he knows it, Jason has finished his second first day of school, with no major disasters. He’s ready to head home when he’s accosted in the hallway by Coach Hedge.    
“Grace!” he says, and it comes out much more of a yell than he probably intended. 

Crap. Jason forgot he was going to tell Coach Hedge he’s not coming back to wrestling. He thought about it a lot, and he realized it was the only option that allowed him to close that chapter of his life, and leave it behind for real this time. 

‘Hey coach.’ Jason says, scratching the back of his neck. He avoid Coach Hedge’s gaze, but he can see the smile slide off his face. 

“You’re quitting? He states with a sigh. “I can’t say I didn’t expect it, but I’m sad nonetheless.”

A year ago, a line like that would’ve made Jason change his mind on the spot. When there were people counting on him, when he was someone’s only hope, Jason would have stayed on the team no matter how much of a toll it took on him because that wa the kind of person he was. But the thing is, Jason is a different person than he was a year ago. He knows now that sometimes he has the right to be selfish, to put his well being before that of others without compromising his own morals, and innate desire to be there for people. 

“I’m sorry, coach. I just think it’s better for me if I abstain.” 

Coach Hedge gives a sad nod, but his face only remains sad for a second when a smile finds its way back on his face.    
“No matter at all.” he says, reaching out and patting Jason on the back. “Spring is just around the corner which means a whole new set of asshole free sports that are begging for captain Jason Grace.”

Part of Jason wants to rebuke him, but instead he laughs.    
“Do you have a tennis team?”

Coach Hedge thinks intently for a second, before looking back up and pointing his pen at Jason’s chest. 

“We’ll make one.”

*   
By that night, the group chat is back in full swing, with texts after text flowing at all hours of the day. 

**Annabeth**

_ Asking for a friend can we hang out this weekend _

**Percy**

_ It’s me. I’m the friend.  _

**Will**

Yes

**Hazel**

_ YES _

**Frank**

_ Can we do it at night? I have grandma stuff in the mornings _

**Annabeth**

_ Yeah I’m free Saturday night _

**Annabeth**

_ Is this going to be a whole ass party tho because I don’t know if I’m ready for that _

**Percy**

_ No it should be chill _

**Piper**

_ Yes please I want chill _

**Reyna**

_ wine night Wine Night WINE NIGHT _

**Nico**

_ ^ yes. If it’s wine night you guys can all come over to me and Hazel’s.  _

 

Jason smiles at his phone. Because drinking wine and spending time with his best friends sounds like the perfect end to the week. 

 

**Jason**

Can’t wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! This is a short lil chapter just full of fun nonsense following some deep dark emotional chapters! We are officially heading into the Jasico part of the fic and that'll take us all the way to the end! I have a lot of stuff I want to fit in so stay tuned to see all the fun and fluffy stuff that lingers in the future. Thanks everyone again for reading and always supporting! I'll try to have next chapter up as soon as possible :)


	17. I need you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: this chapter contains alcohol use

**Reyna**

_ Okay but who is bringing wine. I have like a bottle and a half at most.  _

**Hazel**

_ We have some at our house! _

**Annabeth**

_ I also may have access to some if we need it but my dad is getting a lil suspicious _

**Reyna**

_ Fantastic _

**Jason**

_ Okay who needs a ride? _

**Leo**

_ Meeeeee _

**Piper**

_ Me too please _

**Will**

_ I mean if you’re offering _

**Annabeth**

_ Will someone also get Grover? I doubt he has any idea what’s going on _

 

A second later an image is sent into the group. It’s a selfie of Percy and Grover in the car making faces at the camera. 

 

**Percy**

_ Way ahead of u _

**Jason**

_ Alright I’m leaving in 5. @ Will where do you live? _

 

Will responds and Jason tries to map out in his brain who to pick up first so it makes the most sense when going to Hazel and Nico’s. He realizes that since Leo and Will both live farther from him, it makes sense to pick up Piper first, but Jason knows he can’t do that. He can’t be alone in the car with Piper sitting beside him looking all pretty and nice. He might die. He knows he’ll be able to at some point in the future, but today us not that day. So, Jason decides he’s getting Will first, and informs the group accordingly. 

  
**Jason**

_ Pick up order is Will, Piper, Leo _

 

Jason punches Will’s address into his phone, and following them all the way to the smaller, but beautiful house where Will lives. Jason informs Will of his arrival, and sits back admiring the golden accents and wind chimes hanging from the porch.  Jason wouldn’t have guessed that Will would live in such an opulent home, as he’s much more of an understated guy, but everything starts to come together as Will heads out the door, followed by an incredibly attractive man. 

“I’m so sorry.” is what Will mumbles as soon as he gets in the car. The attractive man leans onto the window frame, and flashing a smile at Jason which makes Jason’s face turn red hot. 

“You must be Jason.” he says warmly. “Nice to meet you.”

He dangles his hand into the car and Jason grabs it awkwardly, resisting the strange primal urge in him to kiss the man’s hand. As Jason looks back up at him, he realizes the heavy resemblance between him and Will, and he feels dumb that it took him this long to connect that this is Will’s dad. 

“Nice to meet you too.” Jason manages, retracting his hand. “I like your house a lot.”

Will’s dad flashes another smile. “Thanks. Will here thinks it’s too much, but I’m glad you appreciate my flair for the dramatics.”

“It is too much.” Will says, seemingly resisting the urge to shove his dad out the window. Jason can tell Will in unhappy with this whole situation, so Jason straightens up and clears his throat. 

“Well, we should be going.”

Will’s dad nods, giving Jason a wink as if he knows something he doesn’t. “I’m assuming you won’t be coming home tonight?”

“I don’t know dad, I’ll text you.”

“Alright alright. Make sure you two remember to be safe tonight.”   
The second he leaves, Jason sits awkwardly as Will watches his dad go back inside. Jason’s never seen Will be like this. He’s honestly reminding him of Nico with that little grumpy look on his face. 

The second his dad is inside Will lets out a groan and throws more apologies at Jason. 

“He thinks that every boy I interact with is my boyfriend.” Will explains. “So sorry for the explicit sexual innuendos.”

Jason blushes a little more. “It’s fine, Will. Really. There are worse things in the world than hearing innuendos from your hot dad.”

Jason really didn’t mean to let that last part slip out, but it does anyway, and he laughs, trying to slide over his embarrassment. 

Will rolls his eyes. “Yeah yeah whatever. My dad is hot, can we get over it?”

“I don’t know if I’ll be able to.”

“Do you know how many times he’s cockblocked me? Just by introducing himself?”   
“I can only imagine.”

Will chuckles a little, finally lightening up to his old self as the two of them drive.    
“Only time it helped out was with Nico.” he says, and Jason forgot about the whole Will Nico situation. He’s  _ really  _ been wrapped up in his own problems for the past weeks and months that he’s only now just remembering all the other stuff that’s been going on. “Nico said my dad annoyed him, which of course I loved. But he also admitted to me that he only slept with me in the first place because he knew I would be hot because my dad was.”   
Jason laughs a little at the story, but he also feels a little sad. Because he can tell Will obviously still has feelings lingering for Nico after the whole breakup-type thing that happened at homecoming between them. Jason feels bad for the conversation leading to this so he ends up blurting out. 

“Piper’s dad is hot too.”

That brightens Will up once again. “Oh YEAH he is.” Will agrees. “Tristan McLean is the only man I would let tell me what to do.”

Jason laughs a big bellowing laugh at that, and it’s not long before they pull up to Piper’s. As she gets in the car to see the two red face, giggling guys in front of her, she narrows her eyes. 

“What?” she asks. “What were you guys talking about before I got in?”

“I’ll let you know we definitely were not talking about how hot your dad is.” Will says, and Jason smacks him on the shoulder, as the two of them burst out laughing again. 

It’s when they pick up Leo though, that he gets into a car in the midst of a heated debate. 

“Definitely yes.” Piper argues. “Educated, the little salt and pepper hair, AND he’s caring.”

“NO.” Will shoots back. “He’s far too much of a dad.”

“Leo you have to settle this.” Jason says, as Leo pulls his seatbelt on. 

“Is Paul hot?”   
“What?”

“Percy’s stepdad, Paul. Is he hot?”   
Leo bringing his hands to his temples and shutting his eyes, as if he’s putting all his energy into concentrating on this question. Finally, he opens his eyes and delivers the answer Piper wanted to hear.    
“Hell yes.”

*

Jason, Will, Piper, and Leo hurry up to Hazel and Nico’s front door as the weather has been getting progressively colder as they get into November. Unfortunately, once they’re let inside, things do not get that much better. 

“You house is so fucking cold.” Leo whines. “I’m warm blooded this is a nightmare.”   
“We’re ALL warm blooded, dumbass.”

“Whatever.” Leo scowls. “Point is it’s cold and I want to be hot.”

“Okay speaking of hot, why did no one warn me about Will’s hot dad?”

Everyone laughs, except for Nico who simply rolls his eyes. 

“Don’t say that too loudly.” Nico says. “He’ll be able to hear from here. It’ll just feed his ego.”

“Exactly.” Will agrees.

“I mean if I looked like that I’d have a hell of an ego, too.” Reyna says pointedly. 

Nico turns to Jason. “I promise it gets old. Just focus on what comes out of his mouth and the hotness fades.”

“This is why I only like Nico.” Will says with a pout. Nico opens his arms out so Will, who easily slips in beside him on the couch. That weirds Jason out a little bit. He thought that stuff between them was long over. But everything that’s been happening today makes it seem like it isn’t. Then he thinks maybe they’re just like him and Piper. Just used to being touchy with each other that even after their relationship ends, it’s instinctual. 

As Jason takes a seat on his favorite couch, and Piper sits herself down right beside him. She seems to realize how close she is, as she glances down at their thighs pressed together, so she discreetly moves away, leaving a sliver of couch between them. 

“Are we waiting for Frank to get here or am I allowed to start drinking?” Piper asks, tiredly. Part of Jason wants to ask her what’s wrong, but the bigger part of him knows that she also didn’t leave their breakup free of feelings. This past week might’ve been as hard for her as it was for him. “Because I could really use some wine right now.”

“Go ahead.” 

Piper picks a bottle off the table and immediately frowns at the cork. 

“How am I supposed to open this?”

“Corkscrew is in the kitchen. In the drawer under the microwave.”

Jason rolls his eyes. “You don’t need a corkscrew. “Haven’t any of you ever done the trick to open it?”

They all stare at him blankly. “Oh come on. Like at weddings none of your bonehead cousins wanted to show off and showed you how to do it?”

Piper raises her eyebrows and simply tilts the bottle towards Jason. He takes off his shoe and slips the bottle into it, before standing up and walking over to the wall. The group watches him in sort of a confused silence as Jason starts banging his shoe onto the wall. Fairly quickly, as Jason’s got strong arms, the cork starts to push itself out. When it’s about halfway out, Jason turns around, drops the shoe, and wraps a hand around the cork, before tensing his muscles and tugging hard enough that he pulls the cork off completely. The room breaks into applause, and Jason blushes, giving a stupid little bow before sitting back down beside Piper. 

“For you.” He says, offering her the bottle. And as she reaches out to grab the bottle, her hand sets over Jason’s, making his skin warm up. They both hold it for a second, before Jason pulls away, looking up only to see how close he and Piper are. His breathing hitches, and he can’t control himself as he takes a second to glance down at her lips. Piper raises her eyebrows at him, but doesn’t move to turn away, and right when Jason thinks that  _ Oh god I’m about to kiss my ex girlfriend,  _ some voice in the background draws his attention. 

“What?” Jason asks, quickly pulling farther back from Piper and looking over at the source of the voice. And it’s Nico, now significantly farther away from Will than he was before, with an unimpressed, almost angry look on his face. 

“Jason, I need you to help me get blankets.” 

Jason furrows his brows. “Why?”

“Because people are cold.” he says, eyeing Jason intently, as if he’s trying to communicate something with him. “And you’ve got big arms so you can carry more than anyone else here.”

Nico narrows his eyes even more, and Jason thinks he finally gets it. Nico can read Jason so easily, and Jason is 99% sure he knew what was about to happen and he’s saving Jason from doing something stupid. That’s got to be it, and Nico is a genius for making up an excuse to get Jason away from Piper.  Jason can also never pass up an opportunity to help someone, so he hops up quickly. 

“Uh yeah, of course, dude.”

Nico brushes past him, and heads towards the stairs, and Jason follows.

“Thank you.” Jason says once they’re out of earshot. 

Nico gives him a blank glance over his shoulder. “For what?”

“For, you know, getting me away from Piper. I honestly might've kissed her if you didn’t stop me.”

“Oh.” Nico says after a beat passes. “Yeah, no, it’s whatever.”

Silence falls over them as Jason continues to follow Nico onto the second floor. 

“Where are the blankets?” Jason asks once he hits the top of the stairs. 

“My room.” Nico answers. “I’m the only one in the house who acknowledges the cold so I have all the blankets.”

Jason can’t help but think about the fact this’ll be the first time he’s ever in Nico’s room. Well, okay. Jason did definitely walk in on Nico and Will in his room at the beginning of the school year, but he doesn’t really count that. One, because he didn’t get all the way in to get a good look, and two, it was very embarrassing and Jason wanted to forget it ever happened. Nico seems a little more reserved as he pushes open the door, and allows Jason to walk in before him. Nico flicks on the lights, and Jason is met with the room he’s only seen once before, and the only way Jason can describe it, is that its very Nico. 

The walls are a light gray, but tacked up with band posters, art, and a whole lot of other things tv and movie memorabilia Jason can't place. There’s a softness to his room as well, as candles sit on his bedside table alongside photos of him and Hazel, and their dad and stepmom. Jason’s eyes also take note of the pride flag in the corner, and the small embroidery patches sitting on his desk, patches that Jason assumes will soon find a home on Nico’s favorite jean jacket. 

He then notices the fact the comforter is straight black, complete with black and maroon pillows at the top of the bed which makes Jason snort. 

“Isn’t this a bit much?” Jason asks, lifting up the comforter. “Do you have to sleep like a Victorian vampire?”

“Who’s to say I’m not a Victorian vampire?” Nico asks suggestively. “I’ve got the pale skin, I love being alone, and I’ve got a polarizing but attractive personality.” he rattles off. “Have you ever seen me in the daytime?”

“Yes.” Jason laughs. “Multiple times.”

Nico laughs too, and heads to his closet. “Guess I have to work on that one.”

He opens up the closet doors and reveals piles and piles of blankets sitting up at the top. 

Nico turns around to Jason and weakly reaches up to the blankets far above him.

Jason watches him struggle for about two more seconds, before Nico gives up. 

“Get them.” Nico says. “You can reach.”

“Aren’t you going to say please?”

Nico gives him a death glare. Jason expects him to refuse, and even if he does Jason is going to help him anyway. That’s why it surprises him when Nico lets out a sigh. 

“Please?” He asks. “I need you.”

_ I need you.  _

Okay. That’s rattling around in Jason’s brain in a way it shouldn’t. Jason quickly shakes it off and steps to the closet, easily reaching up and grabbing the first stack of blankets. He transfers them to Nico, before reaching back up to get the second stack. After giving those to Nico, he stands on his tippy toes, making sure there’s no blankets left to bring. 

“Oh, I think we’re good on blankets-“

Nico says, just as Jason’s hands hit a blanket. 

“There’s only one left.”

Jason says slipping his hands underneath it. That’s when he realizes there’s something under it. Jason pulls it down, and tosses the blanket aside to see two thick black binders. 

“What in the world are these?”

“Please don’t.”

Jason opens the front cover to reveal sheet after sheet of immaculately preserved trading cards. A stupid grin spreads on Jason’s lips as he looks up at Nico who is bright red in the face. 

“This is a large collection.” Jason says simply, flipping through the cards that are seemingly organized into groups, complete with little labels in Nico’s scrawled handwriting.  

“Shut up.”

“I’m serious! It’s impressive.” Jason says, moving over to sit down on the bed with the binders in tow. 

“How many of these binders do you have?”

Nico hesitates, before kneeling down and reaching under his bed to produce a box full of three more. 

Jason raises his eyebrows in surprise. 

“Go ahead. Make fun of me for liking a stupid card game.” Nico says, before shoving them back under. “I don’t give a shit. It’s nerdy and no one else likes playing it but I think it’s fun so laugh it up.”

“Why do you think I’m going to laugh at you?” Jason asks. “It looks cool.”

And it really does. Jason has no idea what it is, but it looks interesting. 

“What’s it called?”

“Uh it’s called Magic.” Nico tells him. “Magic the gathering.”

“Well what’s it about?”

Nico shrugs, joining Jason up on the bed. “Wizards and stuff.”

Jason can tell that Nico is holding back on talking about it. He can tell because nobody has five binders do trading cards without really  _ really  _ liking something. It also seems like, like Nico said no one else ever wanted to play with him so, he’s hesitant to try and share this with someone. Jason takes joy in learning about people and making them happy, so it’s a no brainer that he wants to learn about Nico’s favorite game. 

“Is that all?”

Nico bites back a smile. “I mean there’s a whole lot of shit that we don’t have time to get through.”

“You should bring it to rehearsal.” Jason suggests.

“Why?”

“So we can play?” Jason says, like Nico is dumb for asking. Giving him a little taste of his own medicine. 

“You.. want to play?” Nico asks, surprised. “You want to play my nerdy card game?”

“Well, you really like it, so I bet it’s fun.”

Jason shrugs. “And we’re going to be having a lot of time doing nothing during those every day rehearsals so you can tell me all about it.”

Nico leans into him a little more, pressing their shoulders together as a smile plays on his lips. 

“Okay.” Nico answers, but it’s quiet. 

“Okay?” Jason asks with a smirky little smile. 

Nico shoves his arm. “I said okay, asshole.”

Jason laughs and shoves him back. 

“Just making sure.”

Nico clears his throat and stands up, picking the discarded blankets up off the floor. 

“Put those back, will you?” Nico asks. “And don’t just shove them up there, be nice with them.”

“Yes sir.”

Jason gingerly sets the binders back up under the blanket, and follows Nico back down with his own arm of blankets. By the time they get to the living room, Frank has arrived, still in dress pants and a button down shirt. 

“Looking sharp.” Nico says. “First communion?”

Frank rolls his eyes. “My grandma likes me to look nice and I didn’t have time to change before I came.”

“He looks cute, leave him alone.” Hazel says, and Frank gives her an appreciative smile and a kiss on the cheek. 

They distribute the blankets, and Jason realizes he’s about go go back to sitting beside Piper which makes him nervous. He knows what just happened, and he hates that his feelings he’s trying to shove down are getting in the way of him actually being friends with Piper like he did before. 

“Hey Nico, sit by me.” he says before he can help himself. 

Nico stops on his way back to Will, and gives Jason a nod. 

“Only if you do your wine trick again to open this one.” he says, lifting a bottle from the table. Jason chuckles and complies, picking up his shoe and taking the bottle from his grip. 

*

A couple of glasses of wine later, the group has settled in to watch a movie, and Jason is wrapped up in a blanket feeling warm and content settled into the comfy couch. As he drinks his glass, he does get warmer, and it doesn’t help that he’s currently in a trap of his own doing: Three people on a two person couch, and one of those people (Jason) is not petite.

Jason is already taking up the majority of the room, and he’s pressed all the way up into Nico who is pressed all the way into Piper. And it’s hot. Jason remedies this by pulling his arms out of his blanket and shoving up the sleeves of his shirt over his shoulders. From there, he lets one arm rest around the back of the couch, and the other rest on the armrest right beside his wine. 

 

This provides more airflow, but also causes a new problem. Because not even five minutes after he does that, Piper leans back and rests her soft cheek against his forearm. And yeah, Jason is weak, because he lets his hand reach up to stroke through her hair a little bit. And she doesn’t stop him. If anything she encourages it with an appreciative hum. The physical contact calms him, and to be fair, it gets to a point where Jason doesn’t even care that it’s Piper. It’s only when Nico tentatively sets his head on Jason’s shoulder that Jason remembers it is Piper and he casually pulls his hand away and sets it on the back of the couch. Nico’s hair brushes against Jason’s collarbone as he makes himself a little more comfortable against him, and Jason feels warmth surge through him. He chocks it up to his love of physical touch, and he then resists the urge to run his hand through Nico’s hair as he did for Piper. He’s pretty sure they’re still at the point where Nico sets the boundaries for touch, so Jason’ll let him do his thing, and try his best not to overstep in that area. 

*   
“I call this part two of why I want to cuddle with Jason.” Percy says, motioning over to the three on the couch learning onto each other, encircled by Jason’s arm. “Everyone looks so at peace when they cuddle with him.”

“He’s warm. And big.” Piper mumbles. 

Nico nods in agreement, brushing his head against Jason’s arm as he does so. 

“We’re going to have to make a schedule because I feel like he’s getting hogged.” 

Jason chuckles. “A schedule? To cuddle with me?”

Percy nods lazily. “Next wine night, I call Jason.”   
“I also call him.” Hazel seconds. 

“How far in advance is this schedule going?” Annabeth asks. “Because I want Jason during finals week for cuddling and studying for math.”

Chatter breaks out within the group of when they each get Jason for cuddling, which amuses him endlessly. Everyone seems in on it at this point. Well at least everyone but Nico and Piper who are both content where they currently are. 

“Do you do spooning?” Frank asks, popping his head up from his conversation with Hazel. 

“You guys are so weird.” Jason laughs. 

“Just answer the question, dude.”

“I like spooning, yes.”   
“Big spoon or little spoon, I need to know for science.” 

“I like both.”

“Oh he’s perfect.”

“Can you all solve this in the group chat?” Nico asks, lifting his head, grumpily. “You’re ruining the ambiance of wine night.”   
“Yeah guys, it’s fine. Just let me know when you need cuddling and I’ll be there.”

That seems to soothe the chatter, but Jason is definitely aware of his phone buzzing with group chat notifications.

The rest of the night is calm, and all of them feel good in spending this time with each other which they hadn’t done in far too long. Being the introvert he is, Jason really thought that he would get sick of spending so much time with such a big group of people, but when its his friends he feels like he could spend a week straight with them and never get tired of being with them. But it does start getting late, and Jason has some work he wants to get a head start on, so he thinks its best he heads out. 

But then he looks over at Nico, still nestled against his shoulder, and he feels like he never wants to move, so as not to disturb the guy. It takes him awhile, but Jason musters up the courage to shake his shoulder a little.

“Nico.” he says just above a whisper. “Hey, Nico.”   
Nico blinks his eyes open a little unhappily, as he probably would’ve preferred to remain unbothered. 

“What?” he asks, softly. 

“I’m heading home, so I’m going to need my shoulder back.”

“Can’t you just leave it here?” Nico asks, his voice raspier than it usually is. “I promise I’ll return it.”

Jason chuckles. “If it were possible without serious nerve damage, you know I would.”

Nico concedes and lifts his head up from Jason, who in turn slumps the sleeping Piper onto his own shoulder so that Jason can remove his numb arm and stand up. 

“Anybody need a ride?” Jason asks. He hadn’t had wine in hours so he felt comfortable enough to drive, but he didn’t want any of his friends to try driving. 

“I’ll take one.” Leo says, standing up. 

Jason looks to Will, and Will waves him off. 

“I’ll stay awhile longer.” he tells Jason. “Maybe sleepover if the hosts are good with that?”   
Hazel lifts her thumb up, and Nico nods as well, so that everyone knows they can stay over if they want. 

Jason glances over at Piper, forgetting she was asleep. He bites down on his lip, contemplating waking her up because he doesn’t want her to feel like he just left her.

“Hey, I’ve got her.” Percy tells Jason, sensing his hesitancy. “She’ll either stay over, or I’ll drive her if she needs to get home.”

Jason nods. “Thank you.”

Jason grabs his shoes and slips them back on, before kneeling down in front of the drowsy Nico.

“You’re bringing the game on Monday?” he asks. “Because I’m not going to do research on the game if you’re not going to bring it.”

Nico pinches the bridge of his nose, clearly not awake enough for Jason’s stupid little conversations with him.  

“I’ll bring it.” 

“You promise?”

Nico rolls his eyes. “Yes, I fucking promise.”

Jason smiles. “Good.”

Then he and Leo wish their friends good night and head out of the house. 

“How did you do it? What spell did you use?” Leo asks as the two of them walk out of the house.

“Do what?”   
“You made Nico like you.” Leo says, shoving his hands in his pockets. “I’ve known the guy for like ten years and I’m pretty sure he just tolerates me, so I can’t figure out how you won him over first.”

Jason chuckles. “You don’t believe that I can win over a small goth boy with my dad jokes and incredible cuddling skills?”

“Definitely not.” Leo says, making Jason laugh more. “There’s dark arts involved I’m sure of it.”

“Be careful with those accusations.” Jason teases. “I’ve got your voodoo doll somewhere ready to be sat on.”

“Now, don’t threaten me with a good time.” Leo chuckles, tossing an arm around Jason's shoulders. “Pretty sure you sitting on me will bump me up to number one on the cuddling list.”

“Oh you know there’s no line for my best friend.” Jason says, wrapping his arms around Leo to pull him into a hug. 

Leo hugs him right back. 

“You’re damn right there’s not.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay an update! I had this chapter pretty much all the way written out in my head so I got to update earlier than usual which is great!  
> This chapter is very soft™ and I will never stop writing this friend group as the soft™ legends that they are. This chapter also put me in the position that I know have to learn the rules of how to play Magic the gathering so just know I'm doing thsi for ya'll.  
> Thank you all so much for continuing to read and enjoy it means so much!  
> New update will be within a week :)


	18. Jason I really could care less about you and your hard nipples right now

**Jason**

_Don’t forget the cards_

Is what Jason texts Nico on Monday morning.

**Jason**

_I’m so excited to become a planeswalker_

**Nico**

_I’m literally so surprised you’re texting me at all, let alone texting me about my card game._

**Jason**

_Why is this so shocking? Am I not allowed to text you?_

**Nico**

_Obvs you are, but you usually ignore my texts._

Okay that’s a little true. But it really isn’t just Nico, Jason is terrible at texting back anyone except Piper when they were dating because he felt an obligation to uphold effective communication because it was a relationship. Jason contemplates apologizing, which he will eventually, but he wants to mess with Nico a little first. And that’s how he ends up setting his phone down for ten minutes to get ready, a little smirk playing on his face the whole time.

**Nico**

_Are u kidding me? Are u ghosting me in the middle of a conversation??!!_

**Nico**

_Jason I swear to god…_

Jason knows Nico is about two seconds from throwing out an “I hate you” which his heart can’t take, so he puts him out of his misery.

**Jason**

_KIDDING. And I’m sorry I don’t try and ignore you, man. I’m just bad with my phone._

**Nico**

_I’ve noticed._

**Nico**

_Also you said planeswalker… Exactly how much did you look up on my game? I mean I know you have a kink for research, but did you go overboard?_

Jason makes a face at the text.

**Jason**

_I do not have a kink for research._

Okay honestly he probably does because researching is something Jason really enjoys, and he definitely did go overboard in researching this weekend, but he’s not going to let Nico know about either of those things.

**Jason**

_And I’ll have you know I looked up the perfect amount of stuff._

**Nico**

_Sure. Whatever you say. Cards are in my backpack._

**Jason**

_Also sidenote: Do you have the Thenos expansion pack? Ngl I’m super into greek mythology so that one looks the most fun._

**Nico**

_Are you kidding?_

**Jason**

_No? Why would I be._

**Nico**

_Sorry. That’s just my favorite deck so you bringing it up surprised me._

 

That makes Jason full on grin at his phone. What a fun coincidence.

**Jason**

_Did you also have an intense mythology phase when you were like 12?_

**Nico**

_Of course I did I’m a human being. That’s when I got this pack and it lives in a special binder that I decorated during that mythology phase._

**Jason**

_Oh I’m SO excited to play it._

**Nico**

_Oh slow down. You’re not getting my prized possession right away. That shit has to be earned._

**Nico**

_See u at school Grace._

**_*_ **

At school, Jason contemplates sending another bothersome text to Nico about his game, but Jason thinks that there’s gotta be a point where Nico is going to stop tolerating Jason and his antics, and he doesn't want that day to be today. Jason doesn’t know what’s got into him, but he really really enjoys hanging with Nico. He’s just a breath of fresh air for Jason. Jason was obviously worried at first because they are seemingly very different, but for some reason they just click. The get each other on a mental level, and every thing Jason learns about him, and the more they share with each other just makes Jason consider him even closer of a friend than he was before. So, again, Jason refrains from texting because he likes the point that him and Nico are at and he doesn’t want to mess it up.

 

And he doesn’t even have time to give it a second thought because on the way to his first class, Jason sees something so incredibly strange and out of the ordinary that Jason thinks he might have stepped into an alternate universe. Jason typically isn’t this dramatic about stuff, but seeing Leo leaned up against a girl’s locker with a flirty smile on his face looking confident as all hell is crazy. It’s crazy on its own, but what's really making Jason’s head spin is the fact that the girl is Calypso. Jason can see her laughing at whatever Leo is saying, and then she reaches out and pushes him gently in the chest, making him laugh too. As Jason walks by, he gives Leo a wave and a _look,_ to which Leo responds with an eye roll and a subtle middle finger, as he often does when Jason puts on his dad act and goes out of his way to embarrass Leo.

 

**Jason**

_What on earth did I just witness?_ Jason texts, so that Leo will get his immediate feedback on the interaction he just saw. _Is it April Fools day or did I just see you putting the moves on Calypso?_

 

And as Leo was clearly occupied, he does not answer until about halfway through homeroom after Jason had  informed Hazel and she had brought the conversation to the group chat the three of them share.

 

_Hazel renamed the chat “Caleo???!!!”_

 

**Leo**

_We’re civil now. Alert the media._

**Hazel**

_Do you liiiiiiike her?_

**Leo**

_Am I not allowed to be friends with a girl? Does talking to her automatically mean I have a crush on her?_

**Leo**

_Actually that’s pretty on brand for me ngl. My argument is weak, but this is different. I don’t like her. I actually might like someone else? But it also might be just cause shes a hot girl_

**Jason**

_Oh pray tell_

**Leo**

_I was gonna but then u said pray tell so I changed my mind_

**Hazel**

_Thanks a lot Jason_

**Jason**

_Booooo_

**Leo**

_I’m sorry u need to be punished for that nerd shit_

 

“Mr. Grace and Ms. Levesque.”

Jason and Hazel both pull up from their phones to look up at Mr. D, eyeing them down from his desk.

“Do you ever plan on looking up from your devices?”

“Sorry are we doing something?” Jason, genuinely asks. “I mean we don’t usually do anything so I assumed…” he quits while he’s ahead, because Mr. D gives him a look of distaste.

“Do you find this class pointless, Mr. Grace?”

“No?” Jason says, rather unconvincingly. He’s caught in between his real feelings and his aggressive need to teacher-please.

Mr. D lets out an unsatisfied huff, and turns to Hazel.

“Ms. Levesque?”

Hazel shrugs. “Honestly, a little bit.”

He gives her a hard eyed stare for a second before relaxing back into his chair.

“Me too.”

Hazel chuckles a little. “Permission to be on my phone?” she asks. By that point, Mr. D had already shoved his nose back into his magazine.

“I don’t care.”

And just like that, Hazel dives back onto her phone, as does the rest of the class. Jason knows Mr. D means it when he says he doesn’t care, and he probably only called them out on the phone thing so he can act like he’s doing a little something other than just sitting there, but it still keeps Jason mostly off his phone for the last five or so minutes of class.

“Oh by the way,” Hazel says, looking up from her phone and over to Jason, “I’m about done with round two of your Romeo and Juliet costume so I’m going to need you to come over for a fitting sometime this week.”

Jason is less than excited, and Hazel can tell.

“I promise it won’t be like last time.” she assures. “I took into account your hatred of tights and took better measurements so that’s taken care of, and honestly I really tried to make it something that you would like.”

Jason’s face softens. “That’s sweet of you, Haze. Thank you. I’m free any day after rehearsal.”

Hazel taps her chin and quickly flips through her planner to check her openings for the week.

“How does Thursday sound?”  
“Thursday sounds perfect.”

*

The second the phrase “Work in partners” comes out of their math teacher’s mouth, Jason and Annabeth have their desks shoved together, devouring the new math information they had just been taught. Jason’s not going to lie, this new stuff is hard. It gets to Annabeth pretty bad as all the new symbols and letters get kind of jumbled up in her head which leads to a lot of frustration, and Jason simply feels like he doesn’t understand it fully enough to answer any of the practice problems. So they take it step by step, and slowly but surely they work through the problems. Jason and Annabeth are a good team. They work well together, and Jason think it’s because their minds address problems in very similar ways. That gives Jason an idea as Annabeth tries her hand at the third problem.

  
For the past couple of weeks, Jason has had the inkling that Leo likes Calypso, no matter how much he denies it, and the thing is that today, Jason saw the first hint that she might reciprocate those feelings. And Jason knows he shouldn’t meddle, and that relationships don’t automatically make a person happy, but he kind of wants to see where this could lead for the two of them. Jason has been grappling with a way to get them to spend more time together or at least talk more, and he thinks that although his brain is stumped, he could pass this question onto the best problem solver he knows.

 

“Annabeth, slight detour from math.” Jason says, pulling her up from where she was furiously scribbling in her notebook. “How do I get Leo and Calypso to spend more time together?”

She makes a face at Jason. “Is Leo making you do this? Because he obviously likes her.”

Jason laughs. “No, no he’s not. I’m sticking my nose where it doesn’t belong to entertain myself, and I just wanted to know if you had any ideas? I could use your brains.”  
Annabeth snorts. “Just add her to the group chat.” she tells him.

Hm. Simple, yet it would allow her to be invited to all of their group events causing more face time between the two. “Would everyone be okay with that?”

“I just did it.” Annabeth says simply, and Jason is surprised. He didn’t even see her pick up her phone. “I like Calypso.”

Jason can’t help but laugh. He really enjoys how Annabeth just does things when she wants to. He wants to be more like that.

“Well then that’s settled.”  
Annabeth gives him a curt nod. “I solved your problem, now read me number three again.”

And Jason does.

*

After school, Jason is eager to get to rehearsal because no matter what lie he told Nico, he researched a lot and it ready to dive into Magic the gathering. He couldn’t help himself. He’s a nerd. Muscles and contacts can’t hide that fact, and it was a fun weekend for Jason diving headfirst into a magical world of wizards and battles. As he heads in and sets his stuff down, a grin finds its way onto his face as he sees Nico at the top of a ladder, hanging up a light. From the paint splatter on his black jeans, and the way he’s directing the group of tech crew around him, Jason can tell Nico probably skipped his last class, as the theatre teacher so often allows, to work on stuff for the show. Jason wants to call out to him, alert Nico of his presence in some way, but he also doesn’t want to scare him and have him topple off the ladder, because Jason is sure that would not bode well. Nico would probably reverse their friendship all the way back to square one. Actually, square negative one. Jason doesn’t know when exactly he became so desperate for Nico’s attention, but the second Nico steps down from the ladder and humors Jason with a smile, Jason’s already great mood turns fan-freaking-tastic. He takes his time, talking to the others and checking to make sure everything is in working order before coming down and sitting beside Jason.

“So…” Nico says, hunching over a little, making his arm brushes against Jason’s. “I’m calling cues so I’m busy for the first act, but during act two I’ll be pretty much free to play.”

Jason nods. “I’ll just hang out until then. Maybe do homework.” he thinks aloud. “It’s not like I have anything else to do.”

“It’s not like you have to go onstage and say your lines or anything.”

“Well I mean besides my _one_ line.”

“Hey, it’s one monologue -- give yourself more credit.”

“Yeah yeah, whatever you say.”

Nico gives him a shoulder nudge, before standing up.

“Well.” he says, brushing his hands off on his jeans. He pulls a black tie from off his wrist and bunches his black curls into his hands before securing it into a small bun, revealing that he’s not wearing his gold hoop earrings. Instead, he’s sporting small silver flowers. Which Jason might like even more than the hoops.

“You changed your earrings.” Jason comments, as Nico messes with his bun. “I like them.”  
Nico gives him a funny look. “How much time do you spend looking at my ears to know that I changed them?”

Jason shrugs. “Enough.”

“If you spend half the time you do looking at my ears, working on your blocking, I think you would be in a much better place right now.”

“Ouch.”  
Nico gives him a sly, unapologetic smile and heads off, not before glancing over his shoulder and telling Jason:   
“Find me during act two.”

*  
“So… I use this card?”

Nico sighs. “No, Jason you put that card in your graveyard, you can only use the ones in your hand, and draw one from the library at each turn.”

“Okay no graveyard, only grab from library.”

Jason leans over to his phone and taps out the words, having given up his mental list about ten minutes ago. He then reaches and sets a card from his hand down at Nico whose face lightens from its grimace.

“There we go. You’ve got two points off me.”

“I think I’m getting the hang of this.”

Nico gives a short laugh. “I wouldn’t go that far - but I have to hand it to you, you are persistent.”

“Now don’t flatter me, it’ll go to my head.”

Nico shuffles his cards around a bit, looking down at the cards on the floor between them, and a small smile appears on his lips.

“I mean it.” he tells Jason, avoiding eye contact with him. “Most people won’t take the time to get to know m-” he cuts himself off, and clears his throat. “my game. So, thank you.”

“Of course, man.” Jason smiles, reaching out and squeezing Nico’s shoulders. Jason didn’t even pause to think about the touch issue, and Nico doesn’t mind.

“You know I like spending time with you.” Jason says honestly. “Even if it means learning about your nerdy game.”

Jason ends his sentence with a laugh, and Nico shoves Jason’s hand off him.

“Why’d you have to ruin my vulnerable ass moment?”  
“Sorry, dude.”

Nico wrinkles his nose and throws out a short: “Whatever.” and almost as an afterthought, he tacks on: “And stop calling me dude. Or bro. Or man. It makes me forget you’re not straight.”

Before Jason even has the time to unpack that request, a voice sounds over Nico’s headset, making him lift the headphone to his ear.

“Stop getting distracted. We need lights for the cell scene.”

“Chill, Lou Ellen.” Nico murmurs back, “Just push up the dial on the top left corner of the switchboard and bring the lights down when you hear Romeo say “Good morrow, father’.”

That seems to calm Lou Ellen, and Nico turns back to Jason, ready to start playing again. But Jason isn’t ready to let that prior comment go.

“So if I’m not allowed my hyper masculine nicknames, what am I supposed to call you?”

“My name?”

Oh yeah. Jason is stupid.

“Or-” Nico says, pursing his lips a little bit. “If you think of a nickname that isn’t repulsive, I’d be okay with that too.”

And Nico’s suggestive tone to that sentence must’ve done something wacky to Jason’s brain, because he pulls a Leo and just spits out the first nickname that comes to mind.

“Nico de gallo?”  
“Absolutely not.”

*

By Thursday, Jason is a master at Magic the gathering if he does say so himself. He’s definitely continuing to lose pretty badly to Nico, but rules wise, he’s actually starting to hold his own.

“Eat my dust Di Angelo.” Jason states, throwing down a black card, effectively send Nico’s card in hand to the graveyard.

“You know, you talk a lot of trash for someone who is incredibly mediocre at this game.”

“I’m improving.” Jason protests. “I just need more practice, that’s all. I will master this game.”

“I believe you.” Nico says, but his tone has a familiar condescending edge. “It’s just today is not the day for that because I have to call cues in five minutes so we’re done for the day.”

“Actually-” Jason doesn’t know what he’s doing, but what ends up spilling out of his mouth is “I’m heading to your place tonight to get a fitting. I could give you a ride, and maybe we could, hang out after and play?”

Nico tugs his bottom lip between his teeth as he shuffles his cards. “I’m actually not going home.” he tells Jason, nonchalantly. “Will is picking me up from rehearsal.”

Jason feels a pinching feeling in his chest, and unconsciously his face pulls into something of a frown.

“Oh, are you guys, uh, you know?”  
“No.” Nico says quickly, and that relaxes the tension that somehow formed in Jason’s shoulders. “We’re just hanging out tonight. As friends.”

Jason gives a slow nod.   
“And I’ll be home later tonight, so maybe I’ll still see you.” Nico suggests.

“Yeah, it’s no big deal.” Jason responds, trying to brush off the weird feelings that just came over him. “I’m sure you get enough of me at rehearsal anyways.”

“That’s for sure.”

*  
“Did you eat dinner yet?” is Hazel’s question the second Jason steps into her house.   
“Not yet, I just came from rehearsal.”   
“Good. I’m hungry. Let’s have dinner.”

Jason mentally starts to prepare a speech on why he doesn’t want Hazel to have to put the effort in for him, and he’s not really hungry anyways, because the last thing Jason wants to do is put someone out, but Hazel is sneaky, and expected that from Jason.

“I ordered a pizza.” she says, dropping her phone onto the counter. “I knew you would probably get all weird and polite about it so I ordered it on my phone.”

Jason wants to be made, but he’s more impressed. “You know me too well.”

Hazel chuckles. “I do.”

The pizza arrives within thirty minutes, and Hazel and Jason stretch out on the living room couches, each with a plateful of pizza and champagne flutes filled with soda.

“This feels wrong.” Jason chuckles, taking a sip from his glass. I feel like I’m going to get punished for putting such a bad drink into a nice cup.”

“Hey, no one is using it here.” Hazel says with a shrug. “So I always think, might as well use all the fancy stuff when dad’s gone or else it’ll just sit in the cabinet collecting dust.”

“Fair point.”  
They take their time eating dinner, and as the plates pile up on the table, Hazel decides it’s time for Jason’s fitting. Jason offers to wash the dishes while she gets everything together, and Hazel agrees before scurrying off to her room. Jason finds the dish soap and sponge easy enough, and makes his way over to the sink to clean the residue of pizza from the fancy plates. About five minutes after Jason has finished up drying the last of the dishes, Hazel returns with her arms full. She’s got a black garment bag, a pencil tucked in her braids, a pincushion wrapped around her wrist, and she’s tugging a round ottoman into the center of the room. Jason quickly meets her at the entryway and takes the ottoman from her.

“Where do you want this?” he asks as Hazel sets the rest of her things out on the ground.

“Center of the room.” she instructs. “I’m going to make you stand on it so the fitting feels official.”  
Jason chuckles and does as he’s told. “Fancy.”

She then turns her attention back to the garment bag which she picks up and holds against her chest.

“Disclaimer. I love this costume and I worked really hard on it for a long time so if you hate it, I _will_ respectfully kick you out of my house.”

“At least you’ll do it respectfully.”

“Of course. I’m a lady.”

“No pressure though, right?” Jason adds sarcastically, as he takes the bag from her.

“None at all.” Hazel laughs. “You can change in the guest bedroom.”

And Jason heads off.

*  
After Hazel’s disclaimer, Jason didn’t know what he was expecting to see when he opened the garment bag; but he was not expecting to be blown away in the manner that he was. For being one of the smallest characters, Hazel truly went over the top, and over that top again. Jason gingerly removes the clothing from the bag to reveal a suit, a shirt, and some socks. The suit is what really gets him. The pattern is a deep blue and gold brocade pattern and the suit and pants alike are detailed with gold accents and gold stitching. And not that dull gold you usually see in thread and fabric, it looks like Jason’s jacket is woven with 24 karat gold. Jason pulls on the shirt which is simple enough but held together with a dark blue jewel at the collar. He then puts the socks on which hit at his thigh, and are definitely not tights for which Jason is graceful. And then the suit itself and when Jason catches a look at himself in the mirror above the old chest of drawers, he is surprised all over again, Jason never devotes much thought to his physical appearance but even he knows this outfit is doing really good things for him. He walks out into the living room, a bashful glow on his cheeks and Hazel’s face absolutely lights up as she sees him.   
“Oh Jason.” she squeals.

“Hazel this is amazing.” he tells her. “You’re amazing!”

He tries to move in for the hug, but Hazel deflects.

“No no get up on the ottoman.”  
And despite wanting to continue to grovel at her feet over how great he thinks the costume is, Jason steps up onto the ottoman, now about a foot off the ground.

“Strike a little pose for me.”

Jason complies, setting one hand on his hip, and the other on the back of his head, making him look utterly ridiculous.

Hazel snorts. “I mean a _good_ pose. A princely pose!”

Jason musters up his best pose, squaring his shoulders and letting one hand reach up as if adjusting the button of his jacket. Unlike the last, this pose elicits another squeal from Hazel.

“Oh I almost forgot.” she says, rushing back up the stairs. A minute later she returns with her hands behind her back.

“I may have bribed props to give me this.”

She then produces a sleek golden crown. Jason crouches down and Hazel sets it atop his head, completing the look.

“I’m a goddamn genius.”

“You really are.”

Hazel snaps a couple of pictures on her phone before calming herself down back to her usual level headed demeanor.

“Okay. Now I need to know if everything is fitting right. Is anything too loose or tight?”

“Maybe the pants?” Jason says, sticking his leg out a little. “They come in a little tight on my calves.”

Hazel nods, scribbling that down in her little notepad. “Well that’s an easy fix. I can just switch the straight leg out and slip elastic into the bottom so it’s more comfortable.” She’s more talking to herself than Jason at this point. “Anything else?”  
He looks down at his clothes. “Nothing comes to mind.”

Hazel is unsatisfied with that answer. “Move around a little. I want this to be perfect so make sure everything is good.”

Jason does, he squats a little, flexes his muscles, and he’s onto his third jumping jack when the jewel brooch at his collar flies off onto the floor. Jason gives a surprised laugh.   
“Sorry!”

Hazel doesn’t care in the slightest. ”See this is what I was looking for!” she laughs. “Stuff that was going to come off because it’s better now than onstage later.”

She picks up the jewel and examines where it broke off.

“Okay I can sew this back on.” she says. “So take off the jacket and shirt because those are good and/or fixable. And I can work on your pants right now.”

Jason does as directed, slipping off the coat and handing it to Hazel before unbuttoning the shirt and giving her that as well. She gently sets them on the chair before grabbing a stool from the kitchen and pulling that over with her sewing kit in tow. So there’s Jason wearing nothing but some Victorian era pants and a crown standing in the middle of Hazel’s living room on a pedestal like it’s no big deal. It’s kind of funny actually. Makes him feel like some sort of Greek statue. He stands patiently as Hazel begins on the first pant leg. She makes a small cut on the hem, to make the pant leg wider Jason assumes before really getting into sewing on elastic and all the other costumey things Jason knows nothing about. They talk a little bit, but as Hazel is focusing, it’s mostly her working dutifully and Jason standing there. After a pretty significant amount of time, as Hazel is incredibly picky with her costumes, she finishes the first pant leg and allows Jason a brief stretch and squat before getting him back up, still shirtless, still in his crown, to work on the second one. It’s at this point that Jason becomes uncomfortable with being shirtless. He isn’t sure how he hadn’t noticed it before, but Hazel's house is cold as ever. Maybe it’s because he’s never been shirtless in Hazel’s before. That must be it. Whatever the cause, Jason starts to feel goosebumps prickling up on his skin, and the hair on the back of his neck stand up. He complains a little to Hazel but she continues to fend him off.

“Just like five more minutes.”  
Jason groans. “But it’s COLD.”

“I know it’s cold. I live here, remember?”

“Can’t you just throw me my shirt?”

“Can you not see that I’m in the middle of sticking a needle through your pant leg?”  
Jason tilts his head back with a groan.

“Stop whining.” Hazel tells him. A pout falls onto Jason’s lips and he crosses his arm over his chest which is immediately another mistake.

Jason winces and just about falls off the ottoman.

“Jason!”

“Sorry!” he responds. “Your cold house made my nipples hard.”

“Jason I really could care less about you and your hard nipples right now.”

  
Jason tilts his head back up to retort and that’s when he locks eyes with Nico. Nico who had at some point come in the back door without either him or Hazel hearing. Nico who had heard Hazel talking about his hard nipples. And Nico, who is unabashedly staring at Jason’s shirtless frame with this look in his eyes that makes Jason feel so hot. He wants to curse himself as the two of them stare at each other because Jason’s face is turning red and he’s not saying anything and part of him wants to cover himself up, but there’s another part of him, a bigger one that tells him not to.

“I’m home.” is what Nico eventually says, eyes finally leaving Jason. Jason doesn’t know what to do. Nico checked him out. Is this weird? It makes him feel weird, but not a bad weird. It’s a good weird. At least he thinks so.

“Finally.” Hazel says, not looking up from her work on Jason’s pants. “How was Will?”

Nico tugs him bottom lip between his teeth and glances back at Jason for a split second. “Fine.”

Jason, who up until this point in the conversation had convincingly played mute speaks up.

“Uh Hazel’s almost done with my pants if you still wanted to-”  
“Yes.” Nico says quickly. “Just come up to my room when you’re done.

Jason nods, and as Nico disappears, Jason wills his blush to go away before Hazel looks up at him. Jason wishes he didn’t blush so easily. It embarasses him, and more than anything, it makes it impossible to hide how he’s feeling. And it’s even more inconvenient when Jason doesn’t know what he’s feeling. Then it’s just a blur of emotions in his head seeping out and staining his cheeks red.

Jason knows him and Nico have been getting closer. Like a lot closer really quickly, and Jason has been grateful for the company. In a way, Nico has been filling this emotional void Jason has been feeling for so long, and he’s thinking that is contributing a lot to the current situation. And Jason knows that someone being a good friend to you does not excuse you getting a little hot and bothered by them looking at you shirtless, but Jason is going to pretend it does. He then looks down at Hazel, one of his closest friends, and Nico’s sister, and that also rips the other new and confusing thoughts from his head.

*

Hazel finished his pants and when Jason is fully clothed and crownless once again, he heads up to Nico’s room. Nico is lounging on his bed, sorting out his cards.

“You have clothes on.” Nico comments, sitting up a little more as he acknowledges Jason’s presence at his door. “Are your nipples better now?”

Jason shakes his head, a chuckle escaping his lips. “Much better.”  
“Good. I was concerned.”

Jason leans against the door frame, just sort of watching Nico shuffling his cards.

“Are you planning on coming in?”

Oh right. Jason quickly walks in and takes a seat across from Nico on the bed.

“I have homework so we can only play a couple of games.” Nico tells him.

“Sounds good to me.”

Any tension that Jason was afraid would have been there wasn’t, and that felt so good. Jason immediately gets comfortable with Nico in any situation, and Nico seems to reciprocate that. The games take off, and both get invested quickly which makes it hard to stop when they said they would.

“Okay I know I said homework was a thing, but now I don’t want you to go.” Nico says as they start cleaning up. “Fuck my homework.”

“You’ll be fine.” Jason assures. “Just do your homework, Neeks. We can play at rehearsal tomorrow.”

Jason honestly doesn’t even realize he said anything out of the ordinary until Nico comments on it.

“Neeks.” he says, as if he’s trying to feel out his opinion by saying it. “I like that one.”

Jason smiles at him. “Well good.”

“No more bro from now on?”

Jason chuckles and reaches over to ruffle Nico’s hair, who welcomes the gesture of affection, tilting his head towards Jason.

“Definitely no more bro.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woooohoooo new update!  
> I like this chapter a lot. If you haven't been able to tell by reading this I'm a big fan of flirty banter and pining and crushing so all of that is going to continue throughout the next chapters and I'm SO excited.
> 
> Thank you all once again for reading and always leaving me the nicest comments!  
> New update will be within the week


	19. It's not weird

Jason audibly groans at the sound of his phone ringing loudly on his bedside table. He’s usually never this unhappy to receive a phone call, but it’s late, probably midnight or past and Jason just really wants to sleep. Since he doesn’t have wrestling anymore, Jason spent his Saturday at the YMCA by his house running, playing basketball, and any other sporty like thing he could get his hands on. He did it to get some energy out, clear his head, all that good stuff, but it in turn made him tired, sore, and really unhappy to be woken up at this time. He pulls his phone out from where it’s charging to read the name.

Jason sighs. If anyone else was calling, Jason probably would’ve just rejected and rolled back over to go to sleep, but it was Nico.

“Neeks.” Jason says, voice heavy with sleep as he answers. “Why’re you calling me at midnight?”

“Because I’m having a crisis, Jason.” That wakes him up a little bit more.

“So you’re calling _me_?”

“Yeah, I’m calling you. We listen to each others problems. Remember listening ears and shit? Well now I need you to answer me a question, okay?”

He sounds worried. Tired, maybe as a result of staying up the way he does.

“Okay.” Jason says, tone much softer and empathetic than it was before.

“Should I start sleeping with Will again?”

Okay Jason isn’t tired at all anymore.

“No.” he says, much quicker than he probably should have.

Nico is quiet for a second. “Give me reasons.”

Jason furrows his brows, and lays back onto his pillow. “Well, uh, you broke it off with him because he wanted more so if you start again he might get the idea that you decided now you want more.” Jason pulls out of his ass, hoping that’s a valid and coherent reason. “And you didn’t like him then so why would you start again now?”  
“Because I haven’t had sex since Will and I’m horny and lonely?”

“Oh.” is Jason’s eloquent response.

Nico snorts on the other end. “Was that too much information?”

“No, no.” Jason responds, thinking about his own current relationship status. “I, uh, I feel that too.”

“You do?”  
“Does that surprise you?”  
Nico gives a short laugh. “I mean I just didn’t expect Jason Grace to admit he gets horny.”

Jason rolls his eyes. He knows he sometimes gives off an uptight vibe, but he’s not all work no play. “I’m a teenage guy, give me a break.”

“I know I know.”

Quiet falls over the phone, and Jason takes the opportunity to try and drive home his point with Nico that he should not go back to Will. Jason doesn’t know why he’s so against it, but he is, and he tells Nico as much.

“I don’t think you shouldn’t go back to Will.” Jason states. “I think that you should move forward onto someone new if you’re going to do that. You shouldn’t settle for someone you don’t want to be with because you deserve better than that.”

“I know. And don’t get me wrong, I’m happy, it’s just that sometimes in between the good friends and the nerdy card games, you kind of miss that relationship stuff.”

And Jason really gets that. He hasn’t really had time to process what it was like going from being with Piper to being alone, namely because he was kind of busy with all the traumatic moments, but he does feel lonely sometimes. He gets that desire to be with another person in a romantic or even just physical way.

“And you’re right that I should move on.” Nico admits. “It’s just that the only guy I’d think about moving on with is- well he’s not an option.”

Wait what guy? Nico’s never talked about a guy before.

“Why not?”Jason asks.

“I don’t know.” Nico says, sounding distant all of a sudden.

“Do you want to talk about-”

“Not really.” Nico says curtly. Jason hasn’t had a closed off response from him like that since they first met. “My nonexistent interpersonal relations are are dry topic anyways.”

Jason wants to press further, but he decides it best to just let Nico be.

“We need to find something else to focus on.” Jason says. “I personally have been sticking my nose into Leo’s love life to entertain myself.”

“Hmm.” Nico hums, as if mulling over the idea. “Interesting. I might have to join you on that. I love drama.”

“I think him and Calypso are this close to being a thing.”  
“She’d be good for him. Keep him in line.”

Jason laughs. “Exactly. If I passed on that duty to her, I’d have a lot more free time.”  


“That’s true. Well it’s late, and I don’t want to make you angrier than you are for keeping you up.”

”I’m not angry.” Jason assures him. “You know if you need to talk you call me any time.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.  Night Jason.”

”Good night.”

 

*  
_Leo Valdez created the group chat_

_Leo Valdez added Hazel Levesque, Nico Di Angelo, Jason Grace to the chat._

_Leo Valdez named the chat “Operation get Leo a gf”_

 

**Jason**

_I have never been more excited to be added to a chat_

**Hazel**

_YES_

**Nico**

_Leo u know I’m invested as much as the next person but why exactly am I involved in this?_

**Leo**

_Dont worry ghost king u don’t have to do anything. I just wanna use ur hot tub so I thought it was polite to ask your permission as well._

**Jason**

_whoa whoa whoa since when do you guys have a hot tub?_

**Hazel**

_Since always. We just haven’t used it because it’s outside and literally the middle of November._

**Hazel**

_Leo u know I’m gonna say yes but tell us the plan first_

**Leo**

_Okay okay. I like a girl. You all know this and I think that that we have kind of... Idk polarizing personalities but lately she’s been warming up to me so I wanna try and get her in a situation outside of school you know?_

 

Oh YES. This is everything Jason could’ve asked for. Leo looooovves Calypso. He knew it. He knew it all along. Jason is so happy.

 

**Leo**

_I thought it might be a little much to ask her to hang out one on one because I’m afraid of rejection so instead I thought to hot tub at Hazel and Nico’s place and you three can hang with us and stuff and then casually leave us alone u know so thingsss can happen._

 

Jason is not surprised that Leo has put a lot of thought into this. As much as his brain buzzes around, Leo _is_ a thinker and planning and creating the perfect scenario for a girl to fall for him seems right up his alley.

 

**Hazel**

_CUTE! We can do after school or this weekend if that’s better?_

**Leo**

_I think weekend. She’s more likely to be free if I give advance notice.  And then we don’t have to wait for the shakespeare nerds to get out of rehearsal._

**Jason**

_Hey_

**Nico**

_One problem. Some of the hot tub jets are broken._

**Leo**

_I will literally come over and fix them._

**Nico**

_Well then. I guess its settled._

**Leo**

_Operation get leo a gf is a GO_

 

*

“He’s trying to be so sneaky.” Hazel says, as her, Jason, and Nico walk to lunch. “I mean literally everyone knows it’s Calypso, right?”

“Maybe he’s embarrassed that he ended up liking her after being so against the idea in the beginning?” Jason suggests. “Leo’s never been a fan of being predictability.”

“Or he just thinks we’re really dumb.” Nico tosses in.

“He has to know he’s not discreet.”

Nico shrugs. “I mean when I like someone, I think I’m being really sly about it, but I feel like it gets obvious really quickly.”

How obvious? Jason likes to think he can read Nico’s feelings pretty well and never once has he picked up on Nico having a crush on someone. The closest thing he can think of is when Percy teases him, which Jason has kind of grown to hate because if Nico liked Percy _years_ ago, why do they have to keep bringing it up all the time like Nico is still in love with him? Wow. Okay Jason really needs to get a hold on his brain and its tendency to overthink situations into these kind of tangents.

“I’m pretty sure he knows.” Jason says. “There’s absolutely no way he doesn’t.”

They make their way over to their lunch table, and Calypso is already there.

“Hey girl!” Hazel says, sitting down beside Calypso.

“Hey, guys!”

“So..” Hazel says, nudging Calypso’s shoulder a bit. “Are you excited for Saturday?”

“Should I be?”

“Of course you should!” Hazel tells her. “We’re going to have everything great there, a hot tub, good company, probably some snacks, and of course a certain captain of the robotics team will also be present.”

Calypso bites back a smile. “You’re going to have to text me your address. And a time.”

Hazel eagerly rattles off her address, and tells Calypso to arrive around 7:15.

Calypso nods. “I can’t wait.”

The rest of the group trickles in within the next ten minutes, including Leo, who sits himself down on the other side of Calypso.

Nico elbows Jason at the site, and Jason elbows him right back.

“Hey Cally, you’re coming to robotics tonight, right?”

Calypso makes a face. “No, I can’t. I have dad stuff.”

Leo gives some kind of nod of understanding to whatever “dad stuff” is, but he’s also is clearly disappointed by her answer.

“Really? Well shit. We were supposed to put the motor in today.”

“You can do it without me that’s fine.”

“No.” Leo says, and it’s almost a whine. “We need you to be there.”

Calypso gives a short laugh. “Leo you are more than capable of putting a motor in by yourself.”

“Well I know that.” he says with a stupid little smile. “But it’s our robot. We made it together, and I want you to be there.”

Jason kicks Nico under the table and Nico kicks him right back as Calypso gets this stupid blushy look on her face that Jason knows all too well. He knows it well because he made it every five minutes when he was crushing on Piper.

“Well if you can hold off until next week, I can be there.” Calypso says, reaching out and running her hand down his arm. “Maybe this week just help the others. You’re always good about sharing the genius you’ve got going on in there.”

Leo nods. “I can push it back.”  
“Perfect.”

As the conversation shifts, Jason’s phone buzzes in his pocket.

**Nico**

_You were right. This is much more fulfilling and entertaining than focusing on my horniness &loneliness _

**Jason**

_What did I tell you?_ _  
_ **Nico**

_God bless u Jason. We still on for the expansion pack today?_

**Jason**

_You know we are._

 

Nico looks up from his phone and gives Jason a smile.

“Good.”  
*

Although the Leo and Calypso stuff does wonders in taking his mind off of the fact, whenever Jason finds himself alone in his thoughts, he’s thinking about his state of horniess and loneliness. Jason has never been one to dwell; he’s more of a shove the feelings down until they’re ‘gone’ kind of guy, but recently his emotions have been floating to the top. It’s probably a good thing, as this makes him much more of an emotionally developed human being, but it’s also been a pain in Jason’s butt. He thinks he finally gets what Leo must’ve been feeling before he found Calypso. Leo always saw himself as something of a tenth wheel, and being constantly surrounded by his hot friends who are all in relationships, Jason feels that more than ever.

He also quickly realizes that horniness takes over the brain much more than loneliness does. That’s why sitting next to Piper in history is causing more problems than it ever did when they were dating. She’s beautiful, Piper has always been beautiful, but Jason never really focused on that because in his opinion her personality is so much more inviting. But now, his romantic attachment has dulled, and Piper is sitting next to him looking so pretty, and Jason is utterly distracted. He feels like he’s noticing all these things about her for the first time. And he’s also remembering all of the things she did for him when they were dating from kisses to… well, all the other stuff. She starts to notice Jason’s eyes on her, and Jason can’t even pull himself away as the tips of his ears burn red.

“Why’re you staring at me?” Piper asks.

“Uh you have something on your face.” Jason fumbles out the lie.

Piper self consciously wipes the back of her hand on her cheek, and looks back at Jason with raised eyebrows.

“You’re good.” he says, clearing his throat.

She gives a slow nod before turning back to the front.

Jason wants to bury his head in embarrassment, but he doesn’t. Honestly at this point in his life, Jason thought he really had more self-control than this when it came to his urges, but all it took was Nico bringing attention to it, and now he can’t handle himself. So, Jason does the only thing he really knows how to do to deal, and that’s to shove the feelings down and focus back in on Leo, who is texting someone excitedly, which distracts him just enough to pretend like the feelings aren't there.

 

*

As Jason waits out in the cold at Hazel and Nico’s front door, he cannot wait to get into this hot tub. Like wow. Jason is always up for a brain and muscle relaxer and being in a hot tub with his friends sounds ideal. Even just being at Nico and Hazel’s house gives him this feeling of lightness and relaxation so adding a hot tub on top of that is perfect.

“You’re here.” Hazel says as she pulls open the door. “Did you remember a suit?”

Jason raises the balled up blue swimsuit in his right hand and Hazel lets him inside.

“Leo said he’d be here in a little bit, and we told Calypso 7:15 so she’ll be here any minute now.”

“Cool. Can I see the hot tub?”  
“Sure!” Hazel pulls him along and Jason then becomes aware that Nico is absent. He hasn’t seen him since he arrived. Granted he arrived about a minute ago, but Jason wants to know where he is.

“Where’s Nico?” Jason can’t help himself from asking.

Hazel shrugs. “I think he’s up in his room?”  
They head out onto the back porch that Jason has never seen before. It’s really nice and looks really expensive, as the whole house does, and in the corner of it Jason spies the nice bubbling hot tub.

“We should have been using this every day.”

Hazel laughs. “Yeah probably. But there’s no way we could’ve brought it out with the whole friend group. Could you imagine the fighting?”

“Oh that’s true. I would never want to get out.”  
They are pulled back inside by the sound of the doorbell ringing, and Hazel opens the door to reveal Calypso. She looks really cute, Jason thinks. Her hair is done up in this little fancy bun that Jason knows nothing about, and it looks like she even has a little makeup on.

“Come in come in.” Hazel insists. Calypso steps inside and gives Hazel a warm hug before making her way to Jason and giving him the same embrace.

“Am I early?” she asks, taking in the fact that Leo has yet to arrive.

“No, you’re good.” Jason tells her. “Leo loves to be fashionably late.”

She laughs. “Yeah he does. You can’t get him to a single thing on time.”

“We could all get dressed while we wait?” Hazel suggests. “Or rather.. Undressed.”

“Sounds good.”

Hazel directs Calypso to the guest bedroom, and she sends Jason upstairs to the bathroom to change. Nico’s bedroom door is closed so Jason heads straight to the bathroom and gets to it. Since there isn’t much to do other than get everything off and pull on his shorts, Jason is ready in about a minute. He takes his time folding his clothes up neatly and then heading out. He hasn’t heard any signal from downstairs that Leo has arrived so Jason takes it upon himself to knock on Nico’s door and see if he’s even in there.

“Yeah?”

“Hey Neeks, it’s Jason.”

“Oh! Come in.”

So Jason does, and he thinks it might be one of the biggest mistakes he’s ever made because the second Jason opens the door, he’s done for. Jason wishes so desperately he could unopen the door and unsee Nico but he can’t. Now he’s stuck staring at him in the tiniest, tightest black swimsuit known to man, and about a thousand unsolicited dirty thoughts about Nico catapult themselves into Jason’s brain. Jason doesn’t know why he didn’t expect this. Maybe it’s because he didn’t think this would affect him, because it shouldn’t, and yet here Jason is, a lump in his throat, and coil twisting in his lower belly, and eyes that he can’t get to move off of Nico. Nico doesn’t seem to notice as Jason desperately tries to stop thinking about the fact that Nico has this lean muscle on his arms, or that he has a small trail of dark hair leading from his belly button to the band of his swimsuit and- STOP, Jason thinks to himself. Stop stop stop stop stop. Everything Jason had thought about the horniness taking over the loneliness is proven right in these five seconds as Jason is being bombarded with thoughts about literally anyone he comes into contact with. Well, that’s not exactly true. Jason is fine around most everyone, the only people he couldn’t control it around was Piper, his ex girlfriend, and for some reason... Nico.

It’s his subconscious playing tricks on him. He’s feeling like this because Nico, who is objectively very attractive which Jason knows because he has eyes, is there and Jason is just feeling these kind of feelings as of late. That’s it.

“Hair up or down?” Nico asks, walking over towards Jason who is gripping his clothes so tight against his chest it almost hurts. Why is Nico so calm and Jason feels like he’s imploding?  
“Up.” Jason manages.

Nico nods. “True. Then I won’t have to get it wet.”  
“Yeah that would be bad.”

Jason can _feel_ his ears, cheeks, nose, neck, and chest all flushing red and he can’t stop it. He also can’t stop himself from looking at Nico’s ass when he turns to the side. To be fair, it’s a really nice ass, and Jason has never even looked before. And it fills out the swimsuit so - STOP. Jason cuts his brain off again.

 

Jason needs to leave, he thinks. He needs to go home and try and figure out why exactly his brain is trying to kill him.

“Are you okay?” Nico asks, sounding concerned. He reaches out and grabs Jason’s arm, sending a shock through his body. “You look unwell.”

“I’m fine, Neeks.”

Nico doesn’t buy it, and he shouldn’t. Jason isn’t fine. He’s confused, and grappling with the fact that Nico brought up horny and lonely feelings and now Jason is running through a bunch of boring stupid history facts to try and distract himself from looking at his close friend in a way he never has before.

“I’m not unwell.” Jason tells Nico. “I’m good. Seriously.”

Nico bites down on his lip and studies Jason. Jason shys away under his gaze, averting his eyes to the floor. He then tries to figure out why exactly Nico has to be so close to him at this moment because it’s making it so hard to think about anything else. Finally, Jason looks back and Jason genuinely holds his breath as Nico reaches up and grips the sides of his.. Glasses and pulls them off him.

“These’ll fog up in the hot tub, dumbass.”

And that sentence gives Jason the tiniest bit of relief. It brings him back down to the fact that Nico is his gloomy goth friend who thinks he’s an idiot and loves trading cards. He’s never done anything to provoke Jason’s subconscious feelings other than wear that swimsuit and that brings some amount of peace to Jason’s mind. He’s allowed to find Nico attractive, there isn’t anything wrong with that, and Jason is confident it doesn’t go further than that.

He produces a light laugh at Nico’s words. “I am dumb.”

Nico gives him a funny look but thankfully doesn’t press. He simply grabs Jason’s wrist and sets his glasses in his palm before taking his hands and closing Jason’s fist around them.

“Are you good, Jay?” he asks, and Jason’s skin warms in a different way at the nickname.

“I’m good.” he assures Nico. “Can I leave my clothes in your room?”

Nico nods. “Just throw em’ anywhere.”

Jason sets them on the bed and the doorbell rings downstairs, followed by incessant knocking.

“Oh good Leo’s here.” Jason says with a chuckle. Him and Nico head downstairs, Jason trailing ahead and making it down to the door first to open it.

“Finally dude, we’ve been waiting out here forever.”

And leave it to Leo to make Jason forget everything that just happened with Nico, as his eyes hone in on the fact that Leo is at the door with Drew Tanaka on his arm.

Jason looks back at Nico with a horrified expression on his face, and Nico is sharing the same feelings with a paled face and wide eyes.

“Are you going to let us in?”

“Yeah yeah sorry.” Jason says quickly, opening the door more so the two of them can step inside.

Nico is quick to swoop in and pull Drew away from Leo. “Here Drew, you can change upstairs.”

She nods and follows his directions, her heels clacking against the stairs as she does so.

“Okay, we have to talk fast and quiet and you have to promise to not get mad.”

“What?” Leo asks. “What is it?”

“We may have made a grave mistake.”

Leo doesn’t even have time to press further as Calypso steps out of the bathroom all dressed in her suit and ready to go.

Jason winces and the look of realization falls over Leo’s face.

“Leo, you’re here.” Calypso says warmly. She easily glides past Jason and Nico, and wraps Leo up in a hug. The contact soothes his figure, but over her shoulder Leo is still staring at Nico and Jason with a warning look.

“Hey Cally, would you excuse me and the boys for a second?” Leo asks, pulling back from her.

“Sure. Hazel is outside, so I’ll just go join her.”  
The second Calypso is out the door Jason starts throwing out apologies like his life depended on it.  
Why the hell is Calypso here?” Leo asks, raking his hands through his curls.

“Because we may or may not have thought she was the girl you liked?”

“I literally told you I didn’t like her.” Leo whisper shouts. “I told you it was someone else.”

“We thought you were lying!”

“And if you don’t like her, you really shouldn't flirt with her as much as you do.” Nico says, “Because at that point you’re just leading her on.”  
“Okay not helpful right now.”

“I don’t know what to tell you other than you’re just going to have to deal with it.”

“Why? Why do I have to deal with this? It was a simple plan.”

“It was an accident.” Jason offers up, and Leo rolls his eyes.  
“Well what if I _accidentally_ invite Piper and Will over?”  
“NO.” Jason and Nico whisper shout in unison. Jason can barely handle his brain around Nico, if Piper were here that would be a double nightmare.

“Just suck it up Leo.” Nico says with a scowl. “There are worse things in the world than having two girls who like you in a hot tub with you.”  
“Neither of them like me!” Leo fights back. “And now there’s no way I’m going to win over Drew because-”

Drew appears at the top of the stairs cutting off their conversation. Leo’s form immediately shifts, giving Drew a grin. She flips her hair over her shoulder and continues down.

“Are we going in the hot tub now?” she asks, and Leo nods. He pulls his shirt over his head and tosses an arm around Drew as she reaches them. Jason is surprised she lets him do that, and as the two of them head outside, Jason is left alone with Nico once again.

“We fucked up. Big time.”  
Jason nods. “And we can’t really fix it.”  
Nico sighs. “All we can do is drown our guilt in the hot tub.”  
Jason chuckles. “We’re already in out suits, there’s no other option.”  
Exactly.”

*  
Once in the hot tub, Jason hopes some of the tension would ease, but that was a pipe dream. Calypso isn’t stupid. She can tell that Drew is here because Leo likes her, for some reason that Jason doesn’t really understand, and you can see it on her face. Jason doesn’t even really get it. They’re nothing alike, and Jason likes Drew as much as the next person, but she doesn’t have that much substance underneath all her money and looks. That was mean. Jason doesn’t mean that. He just means that Leo and Drew are very opposite people, and he doesn’t really get what they see in each other. Thankfully Leo, who seems as clueless as he could possibly be to Calypso, carries the conversation on his back. Jason thinks he’s overcompensating on account of Drew being here and the fact he’s nervous so he talks up a storm.

“So that’s how I finally got the kid’s toy out of the car.” Leo finishes his story with a laugh.

“Wow you really like cars.” Drew comments. It doesn’t seem malicious, but there is a hint of disinterest.

“Is that the weirdest thing you’ve ever found in a car?” Calypso asks, leaning her arm onto the side of the hot tub, bringing her a little closer to Leo.

Drew seems to notice Calypso is actually there as Leo starts talking animatedly to her, and that does something in her brain. She scoots herself closer to Leo, who instinctively puts an arm back around her shoulders, and the tension just got ten times more intense. As Drew pulls Leo’s attention, Calypso asks another question pulling him right back.

Nico reaches over and sets a hand on Jason’s thigh and gives it a light squeeze. In Nico’s mind, that probably equated to a subtle way to let Jason know that the tension between the three only seems to be increasing, but Nico didn’t seem to count on the fact that Jason’s brain has been plastered with thoughts of him all night and that his hand is high enough up that it makes Jason’s body tingle with anticipation.

 _No. This isn’t what this is,_ is what the rational part of Jason’s brain tries to tell his body, but the other part is teeming at the thought of release.

It gets even worse when Nico leans over, hand still firm on Jason’s thigh and brings his lips right up to Jason’s ear.

“This is brutal.” Nico whispers, and it sounds sinful coming out of his mouth. “I feel awkward just watching this.”

Jason bites down on his lip, and turns to Nico, bringing his own mouth up to Nico’s ear.

“I know.” Jason replies. “Let’s just be glad it’s them and not us.”  
Nico chuckles, and let’s his head lull onto Jason’s shoulder. He seems to relax, and Jason only grows more tense as Nicos’ thumb traces lightly over his thigh. He’s so casual about it, just being Nico and doing what he does and Jason can’t control himself as he feels all of the blood that was in his face rush directly to his dick. The familiar feeling of him getting aroused worries him, but the fact that it feels so good clouds his brain. Beyond his control, the softest moan slips through his lips and Jason is thankful that it seems to go unnoticed under the bubbling of the hot tub and Leo’s incessant conversation.

 

Nico’s hand dances a little further over and that’s when Jason starts to actually panic. What if Nico accidentally went too far and realized Jason had a freaking boner? He wouldn’t know what to say. He could try to explain that it isn’t because of him, but then again it kind of is? Jason doesn’t know. All he knows is that he’s so horny and his hot friend is rubbing his thigh nicely and sometimes things like this just happen, okay? Just as Jason tries to come to terms with the fact he’s got a raging hard on in the middle of a group hangout, things start to get a little more catty on the other side. It’s blatantly obvious the girls are both vying for Leo’s attention, and at this point it doesn’t even seem to be about Leo anymore, it’s just about one upping each other.

Hazel finally gets fed up and tries to diffuse the tension.

“Hey, I’m going to go make some cookies or snacks or something.” Hazel says, getting up out of the hot tub. “Calypso do you want to help?”

“I will.” Drew says quickly, slipping out from under Leo’s arm. For how much she wanted to be there a second ago, she seems pretty desperate to get out.

“Yeah, I’ll just… stay here.”

Hazel tries to give Leo an apologetic look, but he’s pretty much over the whole night at this point, so he lets Hazel take Drew away.

And for about a minute, the four of them sit in silence.

“How about this hot tub?” Jason asks, trying his utter best to break the tension. At this point, Nico has thankfully backed off on the stroking, so Jason is less on edge, but he’s still hard.

“It’s so nice.”  
“Yeah, it’s great.” Calypso answers. Her mood seems to have significantly brightened since Drew left. “Leo, what were you saying before?”

And just like that Leo dives into another conversation with Calypso. Jason, on the other hand, is starting to strain against his swimsuit in a way that is more painful than pleasurable so he does the only thing he can think of and that’s grab Nico’s wrist and pull his hand off of him. Nico immediately backs off completely, pulling his hands and his head off of Jason and moving away.

“Sorry.” He says. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

“No, I’m not uncomfortable I just-“

Jason cuts himself off because there’s no way he can tell Nico it’s because he’s grappling with a hard on that he’s trying desperately to get to go down.

Nico shakes his head. “I get it. Don’t worry about it.”

Jason is so frustrated. How does he convey to Nico that he likes that physical contact without explaining why he acted like he doesn’t?”

“Neeks.”

“Jason, you don't have to explain yourself.” Nico tells him.

Jason squeezes his eyes shut, and tosses an arm around Nico’s shoulder pulling him against his side.

“I just thought this would be better.” Jason says, biting down on his lip and looking at Nico. Nico raises his eyebrows a little and Jason returns an unwavering stare of confidence.

“Okay.” Nico says, voice small. Nico reaches over and tentatively lets his hand wrap around Jason’s waist, and Jason’s whole body relaxes. He was afraid that the contact would have triggered another spell of hormones, but all Jason feels is warm, and at peace. He may also feel some sort of tug in his chest, but Jason is ignoring that right now. Him and Nico join the conversation, and Leo and Calypso are unfazed by the image of the the two boys cuddled up with each other. And what makes Jason the most happy, is that he can literally _see_ the difference of how Leo acts around Calypso to how he acts around other girls. Leo often feels like he has to put up a guard or be some exaggerated version of himself to get people to like him, but with Calypso, he is perfectly and utterly himself.

“We should probably leave them alone.” Nico murmurs at Jason’s collarbone. “Let the plan play out.”

Jason knows that’s true, but he still has a boner that’s fairly prominent so he’s not going anywhere until that’s gone.

“Uh no. Not yet.” Jason says quickly, his hand unconsciously stroking over Nico’s shoulder. “This is nice. I don’t want to get out yet.”

Nico smiles a little at him. “How about five more minutes?”

Jason nods. He can do five minutes. He runs through a mental list of all the things he doesn’t like or that grossed him out, ranging from World War Two arsenals to that time he watched Thalia kill a bat in their house with a tennis racket. At the end of five minutes, Nico sits up from Jason and gives him a little nod and the two of them prepare to get out.

“Hey guys, we’ll be back in a second, Jason just left his stuff over in my room, and he needs his phone.”

The excuse had many a plot hole, namely why would the two of them have to go together to get a phone but Calypso doesn’t seem to care, and Leo seems to have realized that this is what he wanted out of this plan all along.

Calypso waves them off, and Leo mouths a thank you, only to Jason, and Jason gives him a nod. They boys head in, wet and hot, and Jason keeps his eyes trained over on Hazel putting cookies in the oven.

“Where’s Drew?”

“She left.”

“Really?”

Hazel nods. “I think she kind of realized where the night was headed, and Drew doesn’t like playing second fiddle.”  
“I feel kind of bad.” Jason says, and Hazel shakes her head.

“Seriously don’t. You know Drew has hoards of people lining up to date her.”  
“Yeah, I guess that’s true.”

Hazel wipes off her hands on her legs and glances out onto the porch, a smile forming on her face.  
“They look really happy.”

Jason and Nico look as well, and Jason’s heart does feel full as he sees that Leo and Calypso laughing their heads off at whatever the other is saying.

“Against all odds,” Nico says. “I think plan operation get Leo a girlfriend might be a success.”

“I think you’re right.”

*

At the end of the night, after Jason has had cookies, relaxed with his friends, and changed out of his swimsuit, Jason feels he has had adequate time to process the events of the night, specifically the events regarding Nico.

Jason has come to terms with the fact he is attracted to Nico. He can’t help it. Nico is all small and pretty with his long hair and soft skin and a good butt, and it isn’t weird that Jason tends to notice this stuff. Especially in a time where Jason is so desperate for human contact and Nico is someone who provides it to him. And Jason _really_ likes it when Nico provides it to him. And that's very normal and not weird at all.

 

……..

 

Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everybody! Long chapter this week!  
> I hope you're all continuing to enjoy this as much as I am writing it! This story is already way longer than I thought it would be but to some extent we are in the home stretch so thanks for sticking it out!  
> Thank you for always reading and leaving such nice comments  
> New chapter up soon!


	20. Thanksgiving pt. 1

“You’re mad.”

“No I’m not.”

“Yes you are.”

“I’m not mad Thalia, I’m just… disappointed.”

“Jason don’t pull that bullshit on me, you sound like dad.” Thalia groans. “I said I’m sorry! How was I supposed to know I was going to get scheduled to work on Thanksgiving?”

“I know it’s not your fault.” Jason sighs. “I’m just sad I won’t get to see you. It’s our first Thanksgiving apart.”

Jason had only realized recently that next week is Thanksgiving, which shocked him. These past couple months at good have flown by. Time flies when you're having fun, right?  After the initial shock, Jason's mood shifted to one of excitement at the thought of seeing Thalia, but this current conversation has dashes his hopes.

 

“I’m off for winter break in like three weeks though! Then I’ll be home for a month.”

Jason is still a little upset, but any thought of getting to see Thalia is good for him.

“And you’ll come to see my play?” he asks, hopefully.

“Of course, Jay. I’ll never pass up an opportunity to watch you embarrass yourself.”

”Hey!”

“Kidding.” Thalia laughs. “Sort of.”

Jason rolls his eyes. “Yeah yeah whatever.”

“Have a good Thanksgiving.” she tells him. “Love you.”

“Love you too.”

*

Thanksgiving seems to be on everyone’s mind as almost everywhere Jason turns, people are talking about it. Jason guesses that anytime people get a couple days off of school things tend to get more exciting. For Jason however, the holiday spirit has dulled as a result of the fact he’s probably spending Thanksgiving alone. Maybe with his mom if she’s not working double shifts, but that’s unlikely.  It’ll be a good time to work on stuff though, he thinks. Maybe hang out with his friends after they’re all done celebrating. Or even coming in to school and working on the Romeo and Juliet set. That’s what he’s been enlisted to do today after school anyways, so maybe Rachel will want more help on the weekend.

*

“You guys have any big Thanksgiving plans?” Percy asks, as he starts covering a pillar in black paint.

“Dad and stepmom are gracing us with their presence.” Nico says, handing Jason his paintbrush to toss in the water bucket. “Which means mandatory family dinner.”

“Oh fun.” Percy says, sarcastically.

“I know, right. Are you doing the usual, Percy?”

Percy nods. “Good old parade watching and good eating.”

Nico sighs. “I miss that. One Thanksgiving with the Jackson family and I’m still hooked on it.”

“You know the door is always open.”

“Wish I could.”  
Jason bites his lip and looks down at the paint dried on his hand. Nico also spent Thanksgiving with Percy? What have they not done together? And why does Jason feel _so_ jealous of Percy every time Nico and him talk about their past? It’s getting incredibly frustrating.

“I’m assuming you’ll be joining them, Anna?”

She nods before turning her attention to Jason.

“What about you, Jason? Doing anything fun?”

Jason, who was previously picking at the dried paint on his hand, lost in his own thoughts, looks up.

“Uh no- nothing.”

“Nothing?” Annabeth asks with a frown. Part of him wishes he hadn’t said anything because Annabeth likes to watch out for Jason and she probably won’t be okay with the idea Jason will be spending Thanksgiving on his own, even if it isn’t a big deal to him.

Jason shakes his head. “Thalia can’t make it down and she’s really the only one I celebrate stuff with, so... “  
And for two seconds Nico, Percy, and Annabeth just stare at him.

“It’s not sad though.” he says, quickly. “Don’t feel bad. I’ve never been a big holiday guy anyways so it’s basically just like any other day.”

“You know what, we should have a Friendsgiving.” Annabeth suggests. “Like on Friday we all bring leftovers and have a fun dinner with the whole group.”  
Jason actually really likes that idea. And he’s incredibly happy Annabeth didn’t try and push his own holiday plans into something they aren’t.

“That sounds so fun.”

“We can ask the chat but I’m sure they’re all going to be down.”

 

**Annabeth**

_Friendsgiving. Friday after Thanksgiving, who can host?_

**Nico**

_Sorry, our house is off limits. Dad’s in town._

**Percy**

_My house isn’t gonna work either - Paul offered our house as the sleeping quarters for the entire Blowfis family._

**Piper**

_My house detests Thanksgiving, so it ain’t the move to come here_

**Will**

_Those are the only places we hang out lmao_

**Leo**

_We can do my house! Mom makes a HECK TON of food, way more than me, her and Tía can eat. And if we help clean up we can pretty much do whatever we want._

 

Oh YES. Jason loves Leo’s house and his mom so much. Jason is pretty sure the way he feels when he’s at Leo’s house is akin to how Harry Potter feels when he shows up at the Weasley’s. Esperanza has basically adopted him as a second son, worrying about him and asking Leo to check in on him to make sure he’s eating well and not spending too much time on his own. , Jason assumes this is because Leo tells his mom literally everything that ever happens to him and their friend group, and he can’t complain.

 

**Jason**

_Can we please do Leo’s house I love it there_

**Hazel**

_Me toooooo_

**Piper**

_Hell yeah_

 

“Guys.” Rachel says with a laugh, pulling their attention up from their phones. She has a paint roller in one hand and a tray of paint in the other. “You all volunteered to come help. If you're just going to sit on your phones you can just go home.”

“Sorry Rach.” Percy says hastily, tucking his phone into his pocket.

“We’re working, we’re working.” Annabeth assures, focusing back on her own little corner of the set.

“For the record, I would like to say I did not volunteer.” Nico throws in, leaning over and wiping some black paint on Percy’s arm. “I’m here against my will.”

Rachel rolls her eyes and splatters some of her paint onto Nico’s already decorated jeans. “Stop complaining. You signed up for this.” she tells him. “And you have company.”

“Mediocre company.” Nico huffs.  
“Hey!” Jason says.

Nico leans back and slips his hand up onto Jason’s cheek, giving him a pat. “I don’t mean you, Jay.”  
“Nico you literally asked us to come to this.”

And all Nico gives in response is a shrug and a laugh before returning back to his painting.

*  
About an hour or two later, they’ve put in enough effort in painting that Rachel allows them to go.

“Nico do you need a ride?” Percy asks. Jason knows Percy lives closer to Nico but he quickly cuts in with a:

“I’ve got him.” Nico glances over at him with raised eyebrows. “I mean if that’s okay with you.”  
Nico rolls his eyes. “Of course it is, Jason. I was going to ask you anyways.” 

Good, Jason thinks. Jason 1, Percy 0. Wait stop. Why is Jason competing for Nico’s affection? He doesn’t need to fight for a friendship he already has!!

Jason and Nico split off from Percy and Annabeth on their way through the school, and once their down the hallway, Jason notices Nico is a little too far away for his liking and he pulls him next to him.

“Why’re you so far away from me?”

“Because you smell like paint and sandpaper.” Nico says, wrinkling his nose. Despite his words he makes no move to back away from where he and Jason are walking beside each other, hands brushing in a way that makes Jason’s fingers tingle.

“Are you really doing nothing for Thanksgiving?” Nico asks, a little out of the blue as that conversation happened a few hours ago.

“Yeah, but it’s not a big deal.”  
Nico bites down on his lip, and furrows his brows.

“Neeks, what’s with the look?” Jason asks, stopping a few feet from the door. Jason pulls his arm so that he stops as well and looks over at Jason.

“I want you to spend Thanksgiving at my house.” is what Nico says. He almost sounds nervous as he proposes the idea.

Jason’s heart surges against his chest. He holds back a smile. It's then that he notices Nico still looks worried, as if he’s afraid Jason is going to spit at him and reject him or something.

“My dad knows family dinner is always awkward so Hazel and I are allowed to bring someone. Hazel is bringing Frank and I wanna bring you. And you said you’re free, so if you wanted to-”

“Yes.”

“....Yes?”

Jason laughs. “Yes. Why are you surprised?”

“Dinner in my cold house with my father who doesn’t understand his children isn’t the most appealing thing in the world.”

“But you’re there.” Jason lets slip out. “And uh, Hazel of course.” he tacks on the end.

Nico bites his lip again.

“And good food, I’m assuming?”

Nico shrugs. “I guess yeah.”

“It’s settled then.” Jason says, wrapping his arm around Nico’s shoulders. “I’d love to come. What time should I be there?”

“Not so fast. Arrival time is last on the list of things you need to know to mentally prepare for this dinner. Are you ready for that?”

“I’m ready.”  
*   
Despite Jason’s assurances, the entire car ride home is spent with Nico explaining menial rules that Jason should follow so as not to embarrass himself or Nico in front of his dad. Despite the fact most are common sense, Jason can tell Nico is incredibly serious about them so he listens attentively.

“You have to dress nice.” Nico tells him. “Like you when you first got to Goode. All nerdy with the button downs and shit.”

“I don’t appreciate the backhanded comment but message received.”

“Also don’t talk about parties. Or any other illegal stuff we do for that matter.”

Nico thinks for a second before tossing in “Also don’t talk about Grover. My dad found out he sells weed and he doesn’t like us hanging out with ‘bad influences.’”

“Nico do you think I’ve never talked to a parent before?” Jason asks with a laugh. “I would never talk about the fact we smoke weed and go to parties to your dad, who do you think I am? Jason Grace is an expert parent pleaser.”

Nico still doesn’t seem convinced so Jason reaches over and squeezes Nico’s arm.

“Here, how about I promise to only talk about my math grades and how we play trading card games together like good little boys?”

Nico sighs and sets his hand over Jason’s and holds it there as if that feeling alone calms him.

“I know you’ll be okay.” Nico says, finally. “He just puts me on edge.”

“I can tell.” Jason says, softly. “But you’ll be fine. And I promise I’ll do my best to follow all your rules that are actually common sense but you made them seem like they’d be hard for me.”

Nico smacks his hand at the comment and Jason chuckles, pulling his hand back and setting it on the wheel.

“Can I give you one more rule?” Nico asks. “Like an actual one?”  
“Go ahead.”

“Okay. My dad knows I’m gay, and he’s totally cool with it but he’s never really… I don’t know experienced me in that capacity. Like being intimate with a guy.”  
Jason doesn’t really know where Nico is going with this. “... Okay?”

“Not saying we’re intimate.” Nico says quickly, “I just-”

Nico cuts himself off, recollects his thoughts, and then starts again.

“My dad knows about you and I don’t want to make him think anything because of how-” Nico clears his throat a little, “physically comfortable we are with each other.”

Okay. Message received.

“That was a very long winded way of telling me not to touch you in front of your dad.” Jason says with a chuckle.

“You deserved an explanation. Because when I say this rule, I mean it solely for the duration of this dinner. I don’t want you to think I want you to stop touching me.”

And of course Nico means _I don’t want you to think I want you to stop touching me_ in the most platonic sense of the phrase, but Jason’s brain has been blurring the platonic and non-platonic line more and more as of late so the phrase heats up Jason’s face with the familiar red blush.

“That sounded weird out of context.” Nico says simply, probably realizing as a result of the blush on Jason’s face. “I’m sorry I’m being so awkward about this whole situation.”

“It’s okay if being around your dad makes you uneasy, I know the feeling.” Jason admits.

Nico nods. “I know he loves me and everything, we just don’t really get each other.” he tells Jason. “It’ll be better when you’re there.”

“I’m glad.”  
*

**Jason**

_Should I wear a tie?_

**Jason**

_Scratch that I’m wearing a tie but do I do blue or black?”_

**Jason**

_Is this you getting revenge for all the times I didn’t answer your texts?_

**Jason**

_I SAID SORRY_

**Jason**

_Come on dude_

**Jason**

_Ah! Sorry! No dude!_

**Jason**

_Am I just going to have to ask Hazel?_

**Jason**

_Friendly reminder I’m doing this for yoooou_

 

Finally, Nico danes him with a response, but it’s short.

 

**Nico**

_Blue. Looks nice with your eyes._

**Nico**

_Make sure you’re here at 7. Sharp._

 

_*_

As Jason stands on the stoop he’s been on many times before, he takes a deep breath and adjusts his collar. He’s not nervous, but he does feel this desire to impress Nico’s dad. And from what he’s heard from the brief discussions with Nico and Hazel about their father, he’s a difficult man to impress. But, Jason wouldn’t be Jason if he wasn’t determined to do his best to change that. After checking his reflection one last time in his phone, Jason bites the bullet and knocks. There’s no answer for about a minute, and just as Jason raises his hand to knock again, the door opens and Jason is face to face with Nico and Hazel’s father.

He looks like Nico, is Jason’s first thought. Jason can only imagine that this is what Nico will look like in another 20-30 years. He’s strikingly handsome, in an unapproachable way, with jet black hair and dark eyes. He’s about Jason’s height, with dark features, high cheekbones, and a five o’clock shadow dusting his jawline.

“Mr. Grace.” he says, voice holding no real emotion. “Welcome.”

He pulls the door open more and offers Jason a hand as he steps inside. Jason takes it and gives him a firm handshake.

“Nice to meet you.” Jason says, confidently. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

That’s not exactly true, but parents like hearing that so he says it anyways.

A hint of a smile appears on his face, and Jason knows that choice of words was a strong one.

“And I you.” he responds. “My children are fond of you.”

Jason smiles. “I’m fond of them as well.”

Jason allows himself to be lead into the living room, where Frank is sat on the couch, absolutely sweating buckets.

“Dinner is almost ready. Hazel and Nico are preoccupied with cooking in the kitchen, but you are welcome to wait here with Mr. Zhang.”  
Jason nods. “Will do. It smells delicious.”

Jason plops himself down next to Frank and gives him a sympathetic pat on the back.

“How’re you doing buddy?”

“Oh so good.” Frank replies sarcastically, wiping his forehead with a decorative napkin.

“Why’re you so nervous?”

“Because I really like Hazel and I want her scary dad to like me.”  
“I’m sure he likes you.”

Frank gives an exaggerated shrug. “Your guess is a good as mine, because I cannot tell.”

He’s a little right about that. Nico definitely gets his initially guarded and hard to read nature from his father, but like Nico, Jason is sure his dad has that softness underneath. Jason is actually surprised by how much of Nico he sees in his dad. Hazel on the other hand, Jason’s a little stuck on finding anything they have in common.

Frank sets his damp cloth napkin on the table and glances over at Jason’s lap, giving him a funny look.

“Is that a Magic: the Gathering card in your pocket?”  
Jason looks down and laughs as he realizes Yes! Indeed it is.

He pulls it out and hands it to Frank with a laugh. “It is.”

Frank looks it over. “Ray of Command.” he reads, before handing it back to Jason. “Great card. Gives you mad control over any situation.”

“Yeah! I’ve learned I’m a big fan of the blue cards.”

“I didn’t know you played.”

“I’m a newbie.” he tells Frank. “Only been playing a couple of weeks. Nico is the real Magic geek. He’s been teaching me all the stuff.”

That fact stops Frank dead in his tracks.

“Wait you’re telling me _Nico_ plays Magic?”   
Jason laughs. “Why’re you so surprised?”

“I’m surprised because he’s cool.”

That makes Jason bust out laughing. “He’s only about half as cool as you think he is. I promise you the intimidation is fake and he’s a big nerd with a huge Magic collection.”

“You’re blowing my mind.”

“You should talk to him about it!” Jason suggests. “He would actually love that.”

“I should!” Frank agrees. “I don’t really no anyone else who plays, and that’ll give me something to talk about with him other than just small talk.”

Jason feels good as he sees Frank start to smile and relax a little bit more. Taking his mind off of what makes him nervous is good for Frank, he’s come to realize. He worries a lot more than he needs to. They spend some more time talking about Magic, before a woman with long dark hair steps into the room.

“Boys, dinner is ready.” she says. Jason stands up quickly and heads over to her.

“Jason, lovely to meet you.” she says, before he can even introduce himself. She pecks him on the cheek and lets him pass on to the dining room, before doing the same to Frank.

This is odd, Jason thinks. He’s never seen the dining room set up for people to actually eat in it. Jason himself has never even eaten in it. The closest he’s been is eating pizza on paper plates in the living room, not at the big fancy table with all the delicious food in the center.

There aren’t place cards, but Persephone, as she asks Frank and Jason to call her, leads them to opposite sides of the table, so they’re sitting across from each other.

Nico’s father appears out the kitchen door with glasses in his hands, setting them down in front of Jason and Frank respectively.

“Drink preference?” he asks, Jason.   
“Water, please.”

Nico’s father raises his eyebrow. “Not soda?”

Jason shakes his head. “I’m not much of a fan of soda.”

“You should sway my son that way.” he replies, picking up the pitcher and filling Jason’s glass. “I can’t seem to get him away from the caffeinated drinks.”

Jason chuckles. “I know. He’s relentless.”

“I like my caffeinated drinks.”

Jason looks up to the kitchen door and his breathing catches a little when he takes in Nico. His hair is pulled back in a bun, as it is most days, but it looks especially sleek today. And he’s got on a black button down that’s rolled up to his forearms and pants that are the perfect amount of tightness around his- okay yeah, Jason still doesn’t have the attraction thing under control at this moment, but he's not worried about that at this moment in time. He grins at Nico, who is wearing his usual fondly annoyed expression, and offers a rolls his eyes as takes his seat to the right of Jason. His father takes the opportunity to ask Frank for a drink choice, and they play through the same conversation as Hazel and Persephone emerge from the kitchen, looking just as dressed up as Nico does.

During the bustle of taking seats and filling drinks, Jason leans over to Nico.

“You look really good.” he whispers to him.

Nico smiles at him, before leaning over to his ear.

“So do you.”

“And the tie?” Jason asks, lifting up the light blue number.

“Perfect.”

*

The dinner itself is surprisingly easy. Jason spends most of his time talking about Hazel and Nico, and himself when prompted, and the conversation is light and unfading as they eat through the delicious dinner in front of them. Jason thinks he may have even won over Nico and Hazel’s dad which is all he really wanted to accomplish.

“I must say, Mr. Grace. You present much more suitable than the Jackson boy.”

“Dad.” Nico says, a warning tone behind his words.

“I just mean it’s refreshing to have my son so… taken with someone who shares similar values to my own.”

“Thank you, sir.” Jason says, not really knowing how else to respond to a comment like that. Or what that comment implies.   
Nico’s father takes a deep breath in and reaches for his glass of wine before continuing. “That being said, I am not unaware of your past.”

Jason’s body tenses.

“I’m sorry?”

“You see Mr. Grace, I only want the best for my children. My only desire is for them to be happy, well-adjusted, and successful. I only bring this up because the incident that acted as the catalyst for your transfer to Goode High School-” he pauses, and looks to Nico who is gripping the sides of his chair and staring at his dad with daggers in his eyes “raises concerns on your character.”

Nico looks like he is about to explode with anger, but Jason feels surprisingly at ease. Before, the mention of that event would’ve set Jason into a panic attack. He would’ve cried and shut people out, and done so many other tactics that avoided dealing with the problem, but now it's different. Jason is different.

Jason quickly reaches under the table and slips his hand into Nico’s, giving him a tight squeeze before clearing his throat.

“That is a valid concern, sir.” Jason says. “I understand exactly where you’re coming from. That night, I saw something wrong happening, and I attempted to help the situation, and it ended up becoming a lot worse.”

Jason looks around at Hazel and Frank’s struck gaze and Nico’s anger which seems to be slowing down at least a little. Jason squeezes his hand again and continues.

“For a long time, I tried to act like that didn’t happen, but over my time at Goode high school I’ve been exposed to many people who have helped me take responsibility for my actions and try and remedy the mistakes I  made that night.”

Jason turns his gaze back to Nico and Hazel’s father who watches him intently.

“And that doesn’t excuse what I’ve done, but I think- no, I _know_ I am a better person now because of it.”

After Jason finishes his speech, he gives a little nod, and Nico’s father looks at him with a gaze of approval, Jason thinks.

“Thank you.” he says with a nod. “I admire your integrity, Mr. Grace.”

He then turns his attention to Nico. “I understand your fondness for him.”

Nico doesn’t say a word, but he pulls his hand back from Jason, stands up, shoving his chair back and stomps up to his room.

“Nico.” his father calls. “You were not excused.”

“Jesus Christ, dad.” Hazel mutters, putting her head in her hands.

“Is it wrong for me to voice my concerns?”

“No, but maybe Thanksgiving dinner isn’t the time??”

Nico’s father sighs, and he gets this sad, sort of distant look in his eyes. Jason knows it was somewhat inappropriate for him to ask Jason about his deepest personal trauma, but Jason can also see how he everything he did was his way of ensuring that his children were safe and happy. The disconnect in understanding is palpable, and Jason can’t help but feel bad.

“Apologize to Jason.” Persephone says, her voice soft but strict all at once.

Nico’s father straightens his tie and looks Jason straight in the eyes. “I apologize, Jason.”

Jason gives him a nod. “It’s fine, honestly.”

Jason glances back at the stairs. “May I be excused?”  he asks. “To- you know.”  
Persephone nods. “Go ahead.”

Jason nods, and drops his napkin onto his chair before heading up the stairs towards Nico’s room. The door is shut, Jason is surprised they didn’t hear the slam downstairs, but Jason heads in without knocking to see Nico pacing the room angrily.

“I can’t fucking believe him.” he says, angrily. “What sort of entitlement do you have to have to meet someone and question their character based on one fucking thing?”

“Nico-”  
“And another thing!” Nico says, reaching out and smacking some of the stuff off of his dresser onto floor. “How the fuck did he find out about your personal information? It sure as hell wasn’t from me. Does he get a PI hit on any person I bring to the house? That was none of his business and the fact he brought up something so traumatic to you in the middle of dinner is so-”

Rage boils up in Nico once again, and the only feelings Jason has underneath his calm centered demeanor is adoration for Nico. He’s angry, he’s so angry only on account of the fact that he believes his dads words were harmful to Jason. He’s so protective over him, in a way Jason has never experienced from Nico before.

“Hey,” Jason says, catching Nico by the forearms. Nico continues to buzz around so, a little louder Jason says “Hey.”

Nico calms down long enough to look him in the eye.

“It’s fine.”  
“It isn’t fine, Jay.”

“It is. Although it wasn’t handled in the best way, your dad was right to have concerns.” he admits. “What I did- that was scary.”

“But that’s not you.” Nico insists, setting his hands on Jason’s chest. “You’re smart and so fucking nice and you’re not that person who did that stuff.”

Jason gives a soft smile. “I’m glad you think so highly of me, but I _am_ that person. It may have been a blip, but Nico I did those things and I can’t pretend like I didn’t anymore.”

Nico is quiet.

“It means so much to me that you feel strongly about this, but I need you to know that I’m fine. I’m not hurt, I’m not offended, and I’m not ashamed.” he tells Nico. And it’s true. Jason feels in control of his emotions, the situation, and how his past does and doesn’t define him. He’s pretty sure it has something to do with that Ray of Command card in his pocket, but that might just be a coincidence. “And it might not seem like it, but I think your dad was genuinely asking because he felt it was in your best interest.”

Nico’s face softens under his words, and the tension leaves his shoulders as he throws himself into Jason’s arms, his face buried in his chest. Jason wraps his arms around him lets his chin rest on top of Nico’s head.

“Thank you for caring about me.” Jason whispers, feeling a sudden influx of emotions that almost make him feel like he’s going to cry. Not a sad cry though, Jason thinks. A happy one.

Nico doesn’t reply, he just holds him a little tighter.

After what seems like a very long time, Nico pulls back from Jason with a sigh.

“You okay?” Jason asks, tilting his head to look at Nico.

Nico rolls his eyes a little. “I’m okay. Are you okay?”

Jason gives him a half smile. “I’m great.”

Nico bites down on his lip and glances at the stuff he threw about in his fit of anger.

“Are you ready to go back down?” Jason asks, and Nico shakes his head.

“Fuck no. I mean I’m sure I’ve derailed dinner anyways and dessert isn’t served until 9, so..”

Jason pulls out his phone and checks that it’s only around 8:15.

“You’ll go back for dessert?” Jason asks, and Nico nods.

“Yeah, yeah.”

Jason texts Hazel that much, and Hazel says she’ll relay the information to the family downstairs. She also issues another apology that Jason accepts but once again reminds her he’s fine.

“So what’re we doing for the next 45?” Jason asks. “Magic?”

Nico gives him a bashful smile. “I was actually going to ask if you could bump me up on your cuddling schedule?”

Jason’s heart starts doing back flips. Back flips, somersaults, trapeze, and everything in between. Nico just looks so soft and he’s such a good friend to Jason, he can’t help that his heart is reacting the way it is.

“I think that can be arranged.”

Nico smiles and tugs Jason over to his bed. Jason sits down, and Nico fusses around grabbing his laptop and pulling up some random tv show or movie on Netflix that Jason has never seen before, before sitting on the bed beside Jason.

Jason looks over at him with raised eyebrows.

“Oh come on, Neeks. Are we sitting or are we cuddling?”

Nico gives him that fond eye roll and scoots himself over to Jason. And Jason, being the big ol’ cuddly teddy bear he is wraps his arms around Nico and pulls him warmly against his chest, sighing contentedly as Nico relaxes in his arms. Their legs intertwine and Jason feels more blissful than he has in a very long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yaaaaaaas update! I was really excited to write this chapter as I had been kind of writing it in my head for awhile so I got this one out pretty quick! Ugh writing this chapter just makes me fall more in love with the characters and how far they've come and its lowkey making me sentimental that this fic is slowly coming to an end! The next chapter will feature the second half of thanksgiving aka our iconic Friendsgiving because i thought the chapter would get too long if I shoved it all into one!  
> Thank you all so so so much for sticking around, continuing to read, and leaving me such freaking sweet comments. They genuinely make my day and get me even more excited to write.  
> New update soon!


	21. Thanksgiving pt. 2

Jason never wants to move. Seriously. He would sit and watch this weird anime show for the rest of his life if it meant he got to stay soft and warm and cuddled up to someone like Nico. Nico is an exceptionally good cuddler Jason thinks. He doesn’t move around or try and talk too much, he basically picked a spot and became dead weight in Jason’s embrace. At this point Jason is 100% sure Nico is using him for his body heat and big arms, and he is perfectly content with that fact.

That being said, as much of a dead weight Nico is, the second a knock comes at the door, he bolts out of Jason’s arms like he gave him an electric shock. Jason sits himself up in bed with a yawn, and Nico hurriedly runs his hands through his hair and tucks his shirt neatly back into his pants. Once he’s satisfied with his appearance, he opens the door and Hazel pushes past him and wraps her arms around Jason. 

“Please don’t tell me this has made you never want to come back.”

Jason laughs and hugs her back. “On the contrary.” he tells her. “Dinner was anything but boring.”

Hazel rolls her eyes and pulls back giving Jason a sympathetic look, and Jason can tell she’s verging on another apology spilling out of her mouth but Jason stops her. 

“If you’re going to say sorry again, don’t Hazel.” he tells her. “I’m fine.”

She nods, and easily sets herself down in the spot Nico was in a moment ago.

“Please Hazel, come in. Sit in my bed. Make yourself at home.” Nico says, sarcastically.

Hazel promptly ignores him and pats the bed beside her. “Frank, come sit.”

Frank who had been awkwardly standing in the doorway follows Hazel’s instruction and sits down beside her. Jason glances over at Nico, leaned up against his desk. Nico gives him a tired smile and mouths  _ sorry  _ to Jason, but Jason waves it away and pats the remaining space on the bed, right in front of him. Nico pushes himself off the desk and Jason lets one leg rest off the edge of the bed so Nico can take the small space between Jason’s legs to sit. They all learn really quickly that Nico’s bed, although spacious, was not designed for four people to sit comfortably, and all of them are up in each other’s business in a matter of seconds. Hazel presses play on Nico’s laptop and immediately makes a face. 

“Nico, this show sucks.” Hazel says, pressing pause again. “Can I pick something else?”

Nico rolls his eyes. “By all means.” he concedes. “And it doesn’t suck.”

Hazel picks something much lighter and comedic, and she’s invested in it in a second, where the rest of the boys are just kind of along for the ride. 

“Hey Nico.”

All heads whip to Frank, and he seems almost as surprised as they do that those words came out of his mouth. “I uh, I heard you play Magic.”

Nico raises his eyebrows. He gives Jason a look, because it’s obvious he’s the one who told him, before turning his attention back to Frank.

“And?”

Frank gives a nervous laugh. “And.. it’s my favorite game! So it’s cool to know someone else in our friend group plays.”

Nico fiddles with a thread on his jeans, staying quiet for a second before saying: “How long have you been playing?”

“A couple of years.” he tells Nico. “I have like two binders full of cards.”

Nico bites back a smile before getting off the bed and kneeling down to reach underneath. 

“C’mere Frank.”

Frank is a little nervous but he complies to Nico’s request. Once he’s knelt down beside him, Nico does exactly what Jason hoped he would and he pulls out his bin of binders from under his bed. 

“Oh. My. God.”

Frank quickly pulls a binder out and flips it open, eyes brightening up. The second he starts flipping through he starts gushing over the cards and spewing out incredibly specific facts about the cards and Magic that Jason thought only Nico was capable of knowing. It only takes a minute before Nico is chattering away right alongside Frank, letting all of his knowledge and excitement over the game pour out of his mouth. No fear of judgement, no shame over his game being “nerdy” and it honestly warms Jason’s heart. Frank matches his excitement exactly, and the two boys, both typically quite introverted, seem like they’ve been holding back on talking for this specific moment in time. 

Jason doesn’t even realize how invested he is until he feels Hazel’s hand on his wrist, pulling his gaze to her. 

“What have you done to him?” she asks, looking beyond Jason with an amazed look in her eyes. 

“What are you talking about?”

“This- this happening right now.” she says, motioning over to Frank and Hazel. “I never thought this would happen in a million years.”

Jason furrows his brows. “What do you mean? Why not?”

“Nico takes himself really seriously. And he doesn’t always like letting people in. He’s had the same group of friends for years, and it's so rare that he’ll not only take the time to get to know someone, but also let people get to know him.”

She gives a little shrug. “I don’t know, maybe he’s taking himself less seriously, or maybe he’s just growing up a little, but there is not doubt in my mind that a lot of this openness is a direct result of you.”

Jason’s heart catches a little in his throat, and he glances over at Nico laughing at something Frank said, and tossing a card at him. 

“So, just thanks for taking the time to get to know him. He’s really really great and I’m glad he’s letting more people see that.”

Jason feels her words deep in his heart. He doesn’t think it's any great feat that he tried to get to know Nico. And he sure as heck wouldn’t take any credit for making him open up. If anything, Jason thinks Nico changed  _ him  _ for the better. He’s the one who made him open up about his feelings, he helped him through a really tough time, he gives Jason just the right amount of teasing, and he understands when and where Jason needs time and space on his own. Jason would never try and compare the fact he made Jason more emotionally confident, to Jason helping Nico show off his card game to Frank, but Jason is glad Hazel is happy nonetheless. 

*

“It’s almost nine.” Hazel says, glancing at her phone. “I feel bad tearing them apart.”

And Jason does a little bit too. They started a game about ten minutes ago and are already very involved. It’s much different than when Jason and Nico play because when Nico plays with Frank he doesn’t have to explain and correct him every time he plays a card. 

“They’ll be fine.” Jason tells her. “They can just start again after dessert.”

Jason kicks his legs off the bed and reaches down to set his hands on Nico’s biceps, resisting the urge to give them a light squeeze. Nico looks up from his cards and over his shoulder to look at Jason. 

“Time for dessert.”

“But we’re just getting into the game.” Nico whines, leaning his head back against Jason’s arms. 

Jason chuckles, giving him a little pat. 

“You were the one who agreed to go back down.”

Nico sighs dramatically and flings his cards down onto the floor. “Fine.”

“But we’re coming back after, right?” Frank asks, setting his down neatly on the ground. 

“Of course we are Frank. You’re not leaving until I annihilate you.”

“We’ll see about that.”

*

Dessert is… so good. There’s these big warm pecan pies with cinnamon ice cream and parfait and some other fruitcake thing and Jason has to physically contain himself from shoving it all in his mouth and letting out a long and guttural moan. 

 

But beside the food, the dessert goes good as well. Great, actually. The vibe in the room has changed significantly. When Jason was welcome inside he felt very strongly that he was guest, vying to earn his place at the table, and now he’s welcomed with open arms. The conversations are light, talking about holiday breaks, Romeo and Juliet, as well as learning that Nico’s father shares the same affinity for card games. 

“You know when I was young I was obsessed with this game called Nuclear War.” he tells them, taking a bite of his pie. “It was a card game about the end of the world as a result of nuclear weapons.”

“Interesting.” Jason comments with a laugh. 

Nico’s father laughs as well, a genuine laugh that sounds so much like Nico’s it makes Jason do a double take at the sound. 

“At the time we didn’t have a clue it was a propaganda piece for the cold war, it was just fun to play.” he says with a shrug, and everyone at the table laughs. “It makes me glad that my son can find that kind of joy, in a better game, in the same way I did when I was his age.”

Nico bites back a smile. And he has this look on his face that Jason can’t quite place. As the resident expert on reading Nico’s feelings, Jason is unhappy to be stumped, but all he knows is that look Nico has, bashful and small and beaming at his father is one that Jason hopes will stick around for awhile. After finishing up dessert, when everyone is putting away dishes and continuing the conversation on Thanksgiving food or Christmas food being superior, Jason steals a glance at his phone. It’s getting late, Jason thinks. He never wants to overstay a welcome, and so as not to come empty handed to Friendsgiving tomorrow, Jason planned to have a baking session tonight to get that out of the way. He thinks now is probably the time to say goodbye and head home, even though a painful tug in his chest wants him to stay. He looks Hazel and her father, Frank, and Persephone, and  _ Nico _ and that tug in his chest yearns for him to stay in this happy little bubble. This family. He waves away the thought, blaming the sentimentality of the holiday and heads to the kitchen to tell Nico he is planning on heading home. He pauses a second before stepping through the door as he spots Nico and his father talking in the corner. Their voices aren’t audible, but Jason can see Nico blushing as his father’s words and shaking his head. His father raises his eyebrows, and Nico shakes his head even faster, waving his father’s words out of the air. Jason wonders what they could be talking about. He ponders the thought a second longer, but then Nico’s father is pulling him in for a warm hug, before the two part. Jason takes that moment to step inside. 

“Hey, uh, Neeks, I think I’m heading out.”

“So soon?” he asks. 

“You’re welcome to stay, Jason.” his father adds. And the fact Nico’s father referred to him as Jason rather than Mr. Grace doesn’t slip his mind. 

“Thank you so much for letting me spend today with you and your family.” Jason tells Nico, “but I really have to get going.”

Nico’s mood seems to dampen a little bit but he nods. 

Nico’s father seems to read some kind of signal because he excuses himself, leaving the two boys alone in the kitchen.

Nico still kind of have that dreamy bashful look on his face that Jason first saw during dessert, and he can’t lie it makes him feel even more guilty for leaving. 

“Sorry.” Jason blurts out, not really knowing what he’s apologizing for. 

Nico chuckles. “It’s okay.” he says, reaching out and setting his hands on Jason’s waist, and okay, this is new. “You’re a busy guy. Probably have a couple more family relations to mend before tomorrow.”

His tone is teasing and Jason can’t help but flush red. He doesn’t know what to do with his hands, but he knows he doesn’t want Nico to stop touching him so he quickly wraps his arms around him and forces a classic Jason Grace bear hug as if that would diffuse the situation. Thankfully it does, and Nico pulls back from the hug soon after. 

“Before you go.” he says though, stopping Jason. “What was your favorite dessert?”

Jason doesn’t even hesitate. “The pie. I could eat that for every meal.”

“Noted.”

“Why’d you wanna know?” he asks, pushing his glasses up a little higher on his nose. 

“So, I can bring it to Friendsgiving tomorrow.”

Jason’s face heats up again. God he wishes Nico wasn’t so flirty, making him feel all types of special with his words. He can’t even help it, he’s like that with most of their friends, but it just makes Jason’s head dizzy when he thinks about it. 

So, it’s in that moment that Jason makes the executive decision not to think about it. He’s decides he can follow the same rule that he does with Leo’s humor. Instead of deflecting or spending too much time trying to think about it rationally, he’s just going to go with it. It is more fun after all. 

“If you’re being sweet to me, I think that requires something on my part.”

“Oh?”

“What am I bringing for you?” Jason asks, cocking his head a bit. 

Nico hums, thinking over the request. “Just you is fine for me.” he says. “Maybe some whipped cream?”

Jason chuckles. “I’ll see what I can do.”

He gives Nico another hug before heading out in the living room, saying his goodbyes to the family, and heading on his way. And as he heads to bed that night after a tireless evening of baking something with  _ lots  _ of whipped cream on top, Jason think this might’ve been one of the best Thanksgivings he’s ever had.

*   
  


_ Will renamed the chat “Someone drive me to Leo’s” _

 

**Frank**

_ I gotcha  _

**Will**

_ Ugh yes. Thank you.  _

**Frank**

_ Anyone else need rides? I also have Haze and Nico in my car so I can fit at least one more _

**Piper**

_ Frank can u get me _

**Frank**

_ Sure can! Last call -- _

 

And everyone else is either there already, in Calypso’s case, or has a way there so it really is one of those rare times where Jason drives to a friend group event on his own. For Friendsgiving, Jason doesn’t go all out with the fancy clothes as he did yesterday, but he dresses nice enough to go out. He grabs his glasses and his masterpiece covered in whipped cream before getting in the car and heading to Leo’s. When he arrives outside, Jason’s heart swells. Because as previously stated, Jason loves Leo’s, and because Frank’s car and Percy’s car are already outside so the second Jason steps in he gets to see all his friends. He guards his dessert from the cold of outside, and is bathed in warmth the second he steps into the house. Esperanza pulls him in for a hug the second he steps in the door, pressing kisses to both his cheeks. 

“Hi, Ms. Valdez.” Jason says, embracing her. 

“Jason I swear if you call me Ms. Valdez one more time-” she says, teasing him in reprimand. “To me you're son number two and to you I’m Ms. Valdez?”   
Jason laughs. “Sorry sorry, force of habit, Esperanza.”

Her smiles glows again as she cups Jason’s cheeks, looking him over. 

“Still pale.” she hums. “Are you eating?”

“I promise, I’m eating.”

“Are you eating  _ well?” _

Okay that one is debatable. He is a teenage boy fending for himself most of the time so well might be a bit of a stretch.

“Most of the time.” he says, confidently. She’s not convinced, but then again she never is. 

“Well we’ll just have to have you around for dinner more often.” she says. “Maybe weekly?”

“I’d love that.”

She grins and presses another kiss to his forehead before ushering him inside. His friends are out in the living room, so Jason quickly sets his dish on the table among those of his friends and joins them in the living room. 

“My boy has ARRIVED.” Leo says, announcing Jason’s arrival to the rest of the group. Cheers and greetings erupt from the group and Jason missed his friends in these past two days more than he’d care to admit. He maneuvers his way through the bodies on the floor and makes a beeline for Nico, sitting down right beside him on the comfy orange couch in the corner. 

“Long time no see.” Jason says with a grin. 

“Did you bring me my present?” Nico asks, leaning his elbow onto Jason’s shoulder. 

“I’m a man of my word aren’t I?” Jason asks. 

Nico raises an eyebrow. “We’ll have to see.”

“You don’t believe me?”

“Oh I believe you.” he says, “I just want to see if you can deliver.”

“Jason.” a voice comes from beside them pulling Jason’s gaze. 

It’s Percy. 

“Oh, hey dude, what’s up?”   
Percy chuckles. “Nothing dude, I was just sitting here like a loser so I thought I’d try and hop in on the conversation.”

Jason literally hadn’t even realized Percy was sitting on the floor beside him. He hasn’t really realized anything except for Nico.

Jason shakes his head. “Yeah, sorry, of course.” Jason says, apologetically. “How was your Thanksgiving?”

He listens about the antics of the Jackson-Blowfis Thanksgiving, and when Percy asks how his went, Nico easily slides into the conversation, telling Percy:

“He spent Thanksgiving with me.”   
“Really?”   
Nico nods leaning into Jason in some sort of protective manner, before retelling the events of the night to Percy. 

“That sounds so nice.” Percy grins after Nico finishes. “Did you have a good time, Jason?”

Nico looks at him with the same expectant gaze that Percy does, and Jason nods. 

“How could I not?”

*

And the nonsense flirting Jason has allowed himself to take part in only amplifies throughout dinner. Like never before, Nico and Jason indulge in each other, stealing food off each other’s plates, talking openly about their joint holiday they spent, and proving practically inseparable in any conversation. Jason loves it. He’s not overthinking, he’s just having fun and spending time with all of his friends, which has genuinely become his favorite thing in the world. Leo was right, that Esperanza makes so much more food than even their group can eat, and with everyone’s leftovers on top of that, they spend hours at the table just trying to eat as much as they can. 

When dessert comes around, Leo makes a big deal of showing Calypso’s fancy pumpkin pie to the group. 

“I’m just saying, if I was on the verge of exploding with food as all of you are, and I could pick one pie, I would pick the best tasting pie made by the prettiest girl, which is in fact this one.”

She rolls her eyes. “Shut up.”

“Cally, I’m doing this for you.” he tells her, leaning down and giving her swift kiss on the mouth. “If they don’t eat it, this pie is going to fall into obscurity like Nico’s pie.”

“I’m eating Nico’s pie!” Jason protests. 

“So am I!” Piper adds. 

Leo groans. “Okay bad example, like uh, like Jason’s thing. No one has even opened his.”

“Leo, I’ll survive if no one eats the pie.” Calypso argues with a sigh.

“Fine fine.”

He resigns himself to sitting back down, and taking a gigantic slice of Calypso’s pie, earning him an affectionate kiss on the cheek from Calypso. They’re so cute. And it’s obvious that the feelings have been there for awhile, and Jason can’t be happier they both came to their senses and got together. 

Jason glances over at Nico when he feels his hand on his thigh. 

“Calypso was right.” he tells Jason. “Nobody has touched your thing.”

“Well that’s cause I was saving it for you.”

Jason stands up and pulls off the tin foil to reveal a chocolate cake absolutely covered in whipped cream. 

“Oh my god, Jay. This looks so stupid.” Nico laughs. “You covered the entire thing? In whipped cream?”   
Jason laughs too. No matter how much effort you put in, covering a cake in whipped cream can only offer so much, presentation-wise. 

“You asked for whipped cream!”

“Correction.” Nico says, reaching over to the cake. He runs his finger along the top, collecting the whipped cream and wiping it on Jason’s cheek. “I asked for you. And whipped cream.”

This is the first time all night where Jason freezes. It’s all been light hearted, fun and games up until now. But now there’s whipped cream running down his cheek and Jason is once again becoming aware of his attraction to Nico. Nico looks at him with raised eyebrows, and it takes all of Jason’s strength to try and muster up a response that won’t end with-

“Well then claim your prize.”

Well, there goes the smart thinking. And Nico, never the one to back down, curls his hand around the back of Jason’s neck and licks the stripe of whipped cream off his face. Jesus Christ, Jason needs to stop allowing himself to get into situations that test him like this. 

“What the hell are you guys doing?” Reyna asks with a laugh. 

Nico simply shrugs. “I was just helping him get the whipped cream off.”

And just from that comment, Jason can tell he reads way too much into all of these interactions that Nico could care less about. 

That’s just the way his brain works. 

Thankfully, Nico reigns himself back in and actually eats a piece of Jason’s cake, allowing Jason’s mind to not combust, and fall back into the offhand flirting he’s become accustomed to. 

Dessert runs its course fairly quickly, and everyone heads out to the living room, leaving Leo with all the dishes. He doesn’t seem to mind, and when Jason offers to help him, things go pretty fast. In no time, the two best friends are working through a system of Leo shoving them thoroughly used plates into the water and washing the out with Jason on drying duty. 

“Hey dude.” Leo says, handing him a plate. “Can I ask you something?”

Jason takes it. “Of course you can.”   
“How long after you start dating do girls expect you to have sex?”   
Jason swallows a surprised laugh. “What?”   
“Like Cally and I have been dating like a week, and I just want to be prepared if she wants to have sex.”   
“Jesus, Leo. Not for awhile.”   
“I don’t know!” Leo says, washing a bowl in the sink. “I’ve never experienced this before, and you have so I thought I’d ask. Like how long did you and Piper wait until you had sex?”

The Piper question catches him off guard.

“Oh sorry, is that still a sensitive topic?”   
No. Jason doesn’t think so. He hasn’t even thought about Piper in awhile. 

“No, you’re good. That’s uh, that’s in the past.” he’s pretty sure it is at least. “We never did.”

That seems to surprise Leo. “Really?”   
Jason nods. “She was a virgin, so I never pushed it. I only wanted to do it if she was ready.”   
Leo nods. “Makes sense. Maybe Cally will be like you.” Leo guesses. “Because I know she’s slept with people, and she knows I haven’t.”

“I’m sure she will be.”

Jason takes a breath, impressed at his successful attempt at making it through a question about Piper without getting all weird and emotionally sentimental, but his calmness is dashed as Leo prepares another whammy. 

“One more question.” Leo says, his voice a little more hesitant. 

“Go ahead.”   
“Do you like Nico?”   
If the Piper question caught him off guard, this one pushed him down a flight of stairs. 

“Wh-what?”

“Do you like him?” Leo asks with a nonchalant shrug. “Do you have a crush on him?”

“No.” Jason says, quickly. Because he doesn’t. Nico is one of his closest friends. Nico cares about Jason and helps him with his problems and flirts with him and teases him and looks at him when he’s shirtless in ways that makes Jason feel all funny but none of that means that he has a crush on him. Jason’s rationalized his thoughts enough that his brain is able to make that leap, and he’s holding onto that for dear life.

“Okay.” Leo says, slowly. 

“Why do you ask?” 

Leo shrugs again, setting another dish out for Jason to dry. 

“I don’t know man. You kind of get that same blushy look you did when you liked Piper when you're with him, and you’ve been spending a lot of time together so I just thought I’d ask. You know, try and fill that best friend role I’ve been awarded.”   
Jason feels something wash over him. Guilt? Maybe? But Jason doesn’t know why he’s feeling that way. He’s not lying to Leo, he earnestly believes that his fondness for Nico is not romantic, and he’s sticking by that. 

“Well no, I don’t.” Jason affirms once again, ignoring the weird sick feeling in his gut. “Like him that is. But thanks for checking in anyways.”   
Leo nods. “Hey, I mean now that the tables have turned where I’m happy and in a relationship, and you’re sad and single, I know I gotta step up and watch out for you.”

Jason laughs. “That is true.”

And just like that, they fall back into an older conversation about whatever car Leo is working on at the moment, and even though he answered it, Jason’s brain is stuck on Leo’s question. 

_ Do you like Nico? _

Jason genuinely hadn’t indulged in the possibility that his adoration for him went beyond a deep bond of friendship, similar to his feelings towards Hazel and Leo, but Jesus, Leo might be onto something that even Jason himself isn’t aware of. Or maybe he is aware of it, and has been for awhile, but the fact that he knows Nico would never feel the same stomps any thoughts like that into the ground.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wowie! It's my finals and I'm doing nothing so I keep whipping out chapters haha  
> Sooo this chapter genuinely marks the beginning of the end which is so wild to believe! I've planned out the entire rest of the fic with exactly what's going to happen and there's only at most 4-5 chapters left before we close the book on my beautiful children!  
> I'm so so excited for you all to see the culmination of this story and the relationships and I am so excited to write it. 
> 
> As always, thank you for reading enjoying, and leaving me comments -- it only makes me want to write more!
> 
> New update soon!


	22. I'm so screwed

Directly after it happened, Jason wiped that conversation with Nico from his memory. It just made him all kinds of confused and stressed out, which to be fair is Jason’s natural state at this point, but he didn’t want that. He never wants to feel stress or confusion when he’s with Nico, because their relationship is generally uncomplicated and Jason needs it to stay that way, because Nico means too much to Jason to risk anything messing it up.

 

Jason finds this an especially important move on his part, as at rehearsal that Monday, his theatre teacher drops a bomb.

“Yes, you all heard me right.” she says, after the room fell silent. “Next week _is_ our tech week. That also means that we open next Friday. We have our three shows over that weekend, and we aren’t ready yet, but we will be in time.”

This really crept up on Jason. He knows his lines and he knows his blocking like the back of his hand, but he still felt like there was so much more time left until the show. As confident as he is in what he knows, Jason also knows that performing at rehearsal and performing in front of a packed auditorium full of his friends is going to be so much different.

“With that in mind, I want laser focus from all of you.” his teacher says. “I need everyone at every rehearsal from now on, and next week our hours will be extending even longer to make sure we get the practice we need.”

That’s why Jason knows the memory wipe was for the best because if he’s spending even more time with Nico, he needs to be on his game.

“Does everyone understand?”

“Yes.” The cast echos in response.

“Perfect.” she says with a smile. “Now, last week we stopped our run through when Friar John is denied entrance to the city, but we’re taking it from the top of the show today. I want everyone to be using their props, making sure to avoid the wet paint on stage left, and if you have them, wearing your character shoes to get used to them.”

Jason wrinkles his nose at that request, because he does have his character shoes. They’re these tall black boots with a heel and golden little embroidery around the top. They’re fun and elegant and all that, but Jason has limited experience walking in heels, which resulted in him tripping around each time Hazel put them on him.

 

_“You just need to practice in them, Jason.” Hazel says, a laugh bubbling in her throat._

_“Hazel, I’m trying, but I’m about one false step away from rolling my ankle.” Jason complains, holding onto the wall for some support. “Is there no option without a heel?”_

_“Are you disrespecting my artistry and my vision?”_

_Jason sighs. “Of course not.”_   


So that was the end of that conversation, so Jason is less than thrilled to get into the boots. At least it’ll be practice?

 

Once backstage, Jason enslists Travis to lean on as he slips on the boots, which only results in a little bit of teasing before Jason is fully in the shoes.

“I know I talk a lot of shit, but these look pretty good.” Travis says, surveying the boots. “They’re princely as fuck.”

“Hopefully that counteracts the fact I walk in them like an idiot.”

Travis laughs. “Almost. You’re still about 10% idiot.”

“Thanks for the encouragement.”

“Always.” he says, patting Jason on the back enough to make him stumble forward a little. “Make sure you get your little scroll thing from props.”

That’s probably a good idea. Jason doesn’t go on for awhile, but he’s forgot his prop a fair amount of times so now is the time to make sure he doesn’t.

The prop table is on the other side of the stage so Jason uses that laser focus his teacher was talking about and walks one foot in front of the other on the way there. He’s definitely moving at a snail’s pace, but he has not tripped yet which is a marvelous feat for Jason.

He’s a little wobbly as he walks, but mostly sturdy until about five feet from the prop table when he snags the toe of his boot on a cord and flies forward. His life flashes before his eyes, but then he quickly realizes that two things in front of him are possibly going to keep him from  dying and that’s Nico and a wall. Jason surges himself forward just a little bit more as he falls, and saves himself from an untimely demise as Nico catches him by the hips and Jason, much larger than Nico, pushes him up into the wall. Jason only misses crushing the smaller boy by bracing his hands on the wall right by Nico’s head.

“Jesus, Jason.” Nico breathes, his face about an inch away from Jason’s. “You have to watch where you’re going.”

Jason nods quickly. “It’s, uh, the shoes.”

“Well.” Nico says, swallowing thickly before speaking. “It’s a good thing you’re practicing with them now, right?”

Jason nods again. “So good.”

They stare at each other for a second, and Jason has to mentally slap the little Leo in devil horns off of his shoulder as he stares at Nico. Finally, he clears his throat after what seems like a lifetime.

“I need my prop.”  
Nico raises his eyebrows. “It’s that scroll thing, yeah?”

“Yeah.”  
Nico chuckles, setting his hands on Jason’s chest and pressing him back. “I’ll get it for you, Bambi.”

The teasing is evident in his voice as he steps away from the wall, keeping his hands on Jason’s shoulders.

“Just stay right here. Try not to be such a hazard.”  
“I’ll try.”

Nico returns a second later, slipping the scroll into Jason’s hand with a smirk on his face.   
“No more falling, okay?”   
“Only when you’re there to catch me.”

Jesus, Jason. Get it together.

Nico simply winks at him, and heads on his way.

Jason takes a breath. This is going to be a long week.

*

The pre-tech week is so brutal, Jason can only imagine what rehearsals will be like next week when there’s longer hours and full costumes. Every night after Jason comes home he has to re-bandage the ever present blisters on his heels and toes. Since when does he sustain more consistent injuries doing theatre than he ever did doing sports?

At any rate, Jason is thankful it’s Friday so that he only has to worry about one more rehearsal before he gets a well deserved weekend break. Just one thing left to worry about and then he can relax. At least he thought there was just one more thing.

“Jason!” Jason turns around from his journey to lunch and when he finds the source of the voice his face lights up.

“Beckendorf!” Jason grins, pulling the taller boy into a hug. “I haven’t seen you in forever.”  
“I know, I know. I’ve missed you, man.”

“I’ve missed you too.”

“We gotta catch up, but I’m not here on personal business.”

Jason raises an eyebrow.

“I just ran into Piper. She’s been looking for you everywhere.”  
“Why? Is she okay?”   
“Yeah, she’s fine, but she wants to talk to you. She’s in room 215.”

Jason thanks him, and turns himself around to go look for Piper. Why would she be looking for him? They haven’t really even talked since… a wave of guilt crashes over him as he realizes they've barely talked since the breakup. And for the most part, that’s his fault. Jason didn’t mean for their breakup to mean he completely shut her out, but he did and he feels terrible. Despite the guilt, Jason feels in a much better place then he was then, and he feels much stronger now that he can be a friend to Piper like he was before. Before all the feelings. It’s still a question of whether or not Jason harbors feelings for her now, and she for him, but Jason will just have to feel that out once he finds her.

When he does, she’s sitting in a desk in the front, looking apologetic.

“Piper what’s up? What’s going on?”  
“Sorry.” she says, immediately. “It’s not that big of a deal, I just wanted..”

Her voice trails off, and Jason drops his backpack before sitting down next to her.

“Tell me.”  
“Silena got food poisoning.” she tells him, raking a hand through her hair. “So, I have to lead feminist club and I don’t have anything prepared and I’m nervous.”   
“You’ve done that before, though.” he offers.

“Once.” she states. “And I knew weeks in advance, and-” she cuts herself off. “And you were there.”

A dull ache finds its way into Jason’s chest.

“Yeah, it’s stupid and out of the blue because we haven’t been on the best terms lately, but I would just feel a lot better about it if you were there.”

“I would Piper, but I have rehearsal.”  
Her shoulders slump. “Oh. Okay. Yeah, I understand.”   
And Jason feels like complete shit. He owes this to Piper. All she ever did was care for him, and it just happened to be at the worst time in Jason’s life. She deserved more than what he gave her then, and even if his feelings for her aren’t there anymore, Jason still isn’t quite sure on that, she deserves something from him now.

“Actually, you know what? I’ll be there.”

“Jason, you don’t have to-”  
“No, I’m doing this Piper.” he tells her, reaching out and squeezing her hand. “You asked me to, and I want to be there, so I’ll see you after school, okay?”

She nods, squeezing his hand back. “Okay. Thanks, Jason.”  
*   
**Jason**

_Don’t hate me._

**Nico**

_I don’t like how you’re starting this conversation._

**Jason**

_I need a favor_

**Nico**

_What is it?_ _  
_ **Jason**

_I have to come to rehearsal late tonight. Like an hour late._

**Jason**

_I know that’s bad but it’s for something really important._

**Nico**

_Jason we open in a week._

**Jason**

_I know._

The next response comes after ten agonizing minutes.

**Nico**

_You know if anyone else was asking me, I’d say no._

**Jason**

_I know._

**Nico**

_Fine. I’ll cover for you. If you’re any later than an hour I’ll stab you with the happy dagger._

Jason chuckles. He is incredibly thankful for Nico Di Angelo. 

**Jason**

_Understood._

**Jason**

_Will you at least drink the poison after to join me in death?_ _  
_ **Nico**

_Eh why not. I’ve got nothing better to do._

*

Walking into Feminist club after school gives Jason this eerie deja vu feeling. The first time he ever went, Hazel was in there waiting for him, Piper was leading the meeting on account of Silena being gone, and Jason’s heart and head were clouded with thoughts of Piper. Jason takes the seat next to Hazel, and looks up at Piper who gives him this warm sunny smile. She looks at him with a face that two months ago would’ve sent Jason into a blushy love filled trance, but now, it doesn't.

 

His old crush feelings are replaced by a new warmth. The kind of feeling that you get when you read a book that you loved as a kid, or when you run into someone you were friends with in middle school. Someone you used to be so close with, and now know virtually nothing about, but there remains this lingering nostalgia of the role they played in your life. Jason has _so_ much space in his heart for Piper. Endless amounts really, but it isn’t the kind of space she used to take up. It’s the kind where Jason wants to sit back and admire all the amazing things Piper puts out into the world, and he doesn’t have the desire to be by her side as she does so. As she goes through the meeting, Jason gets the sense that Piper feels the same way. She asked Jason here because she thought she needed him, but Piper quickly realized she can and deserves to do it on her own.

  
The meeting seems brief, and at about five minutes until the hour is up, Piper lets everyone go. Jason knows he has to get going, but he can’t let himself until he talks to Piper. Until he makes the conscious decision to close that chapter, and move on to the new one where him and Piper can genuinely go back to being friends.

Jason heads over and before he says a word, Piper tugs him into the biggest hug. And the thing is, Jason feels absolutely no blush on his face, no heart pounding, no tongue-tied words, and no butterflies, and he’s never been more proud. All he feels when he hugs her back, are all of the unspoken words over the last month pouring into the embrace.

Jason pulls back and gives Piper a soft smile.

“I’ve missed you, Piper.”

She smiles back up at him. “I’ve missed you too.”

They make plans to hang out, and actually both commit to the friend thing that they avoided while they still harbored feelings for each other, and Jason gives her one more hug before scooting out the door to rehearsal.

“Hey, asshole.” a voice hisses as Jason nears the theater. He looks over to the door where Nico is popping his head out. “You’ve got two minutes to get in, or my ass is on the line.”

Jason can't help but grin at the sight.

“Sorry Neeks.” Jason whispers back, having trouble getting the words out for some reason. And oh. Oh no. He feels a blush creeping up the back of his neck.

“It’s fine.” Nico says with a sigh. “But I can’t say I didn’t miss you.”

Jason’s heart thrums against his chest and in his ears, and when Nico offers him a soft smile before heading back inside the theater,  Jason wants to cry as he feels butterflies in his stomach.

This can’t be happening. He’s tried to convince himself it isn’t happening, but it is. Jason knows he has only a minute before he’s supposed to be back in rehearsal, but he can’t help it. He needs to do this. He whips out his phone and lifts it up to his ear.

“Hello?”

“I lied, Leo. I like him. I like him so much and I’m so screwed.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short little chapter for ya! I finished this chapter literally the day after I posted my last one but I thought I needed to give it another day before updating again haha!  
> I felt it so necessary to kind of give Piper some kind of real wrap up because she was a very big part of Jason's journey and she didn't get the recognition she deserved! I've missed her.  
> Anyways heck yeah to Jason finally coming to his senses and realizing that it is weird to be thinking all this stuff and he does in fact have a crush haha. Things will only get more exciting from here!
> 
> Thank you all for everything! New chapter soon!


	23. I just care about you, dummy

Right after a torturous two hours of Jason going out of his mind backstage at rehearsal, Jason jumps in his car as fast as he can and drives to Leo’s house. As soon as Leo answers the door, Jason spews out apologies. 

“I’m sorry I came all uninvited but I needed to talk to you and I’m not really thinking straight, so-”

“Jason.” Leo says, cutting him off. “I’m your best friend. After declaring your love for Nico over the phone, and promptly hanging up on me, you think I didn’t see this coming?”

Leo opens his arms, and Jason, who is so grateful for Leo in this moment, throws himself into the shorter boy’s embrace. 

Jason just wishes he could get his mind to stop running. Ever since he left Feminist Club his mind has been running and talking and spinning out of control with all these thoughts, and Jason has come to terms with the fact that he can’t shove them down anymore because they always find away of bubbling back up to the surface. And he can’t talk about this with Thalia who he usually shares problems, and obviously not Nico, so Jason is turning to his best friend to spill out his heart in hopes that Leo can find a fix. 

“What’s got you so distraught Superman?” Leo asks. “What’s the big deal?”

If only it were that simple. 

Jason and Leo head to Leo’s room, and Jason quickly sits his friend down on the bed while returning to an old favorite of over-thinking Jason, the stressed out pacing of the room. 

“Okay, I’ve got a lot of things in my head.”

“As you always do.”   
“Yeah, as I always do, so I’m just going to word vomit them at you because if I don’t I won’t say them at all, okay?”

Leo nods. “Should I take notes?”   
“If you think that would help.”

Leo chuckles. “I’m kidding, dude. Just go for it.”

“Okay, okay, okay.” Jason says, shaking his hands out a little. “I like Nico.”

“I know. And I’d just like to say called that shit a mile away.”

Jaso ignores him and sets off on the tangent of a lifetime.

“I like him and it’s not even my fault really because if he didn’t look so attractive all the time with his cute butt and his pretty face then I wouldn’t even be in this situation! And he’s always really nice and flirty to me just because that’s how he is, but it makes my brain  _ all _ confused. It also confuses me when he invites me over to major holidays with his family, and wants to cuddle me, and tells me all his deepest secrets, because how am I supposed to handle all that stuff without just falling head over heels for him, huh? HUH?”

 

Leo hold his tongue as his best friend empties his heart out onto the floor, because he knows Jason needs to do this.

 

“And that’s all fine and cool and good, but the thing is, it’s so hard feeling all this stuff for him because he’ll never like me back! He only started tolerating me like a month ago, and yeah I’d say we’re close friends, but why does my brain have to go and make it about liking him? I bet  _ Nico’s  _ brain doesn’t do that. He offers me so much more than I offer him, and he has all these guys and girls who like him and he never wants any of them, not even Will, so what would make him like me? If he refused to date Will, then he’s not gonna want to date me! I’m not Percy Jackson! I’m just boring old Jason!”

 

Jason barely pauses to catch his breath before lifting his finger in the air and exclaiming:

 

“And another thing-- HAZEL. I haven’t even thought of that before now, but good lord he’s Hazel’s brother! That’s weird, right? I think it’s weird. What if she wasn’t okay with it? I can’t even imagine telling her about my crush on him.”

 

It’s finally when Jason gets to the reasons that Nico finding out about the crush would interfere with their working relationship in the play that Jason starts to wind down from his rant. Words come out slower, shoulders slump, and the second that Jason takes a pause, Leo takes the opportunity to sit Jason down at his desk chair. 

“Jesus fucking christ, Jason.” Leo says. “You really have to tell me stuff more frequently. We can’t jump emotion dump every thirty days.”

Jason gives a tired nod. 

“I honestly probably should’ve taken notes.”

“Sorry.”   
“It’s fine, it’s fine.” Leo reaches behind Jason and grabs a pencil, and a notebook he had left out before beginning to furiously scribble what Jason assumes are the contents of the rant he just let spill out. “I’m just going to have to figure out how to attack this.”   
Jason sits in silence as Leo rips out his current paper, balls it up, tosses it in the general direction of the trash can and starts scribbling on a new piece of paper. Once Leo is satisfied, he tears the paper out and sits himself beside Jason. 

“Now, I’m gonna preface this with the obvious fact that I’m not the guy people come to for relationship advice, but you’re my best friend so I’m giving it my best go.”

He sets down the paper that has quotes that Leo pulled from Jason’s rant. 

“I call it the dumbass translator.” Leo says, “with a secondary title of what Jason says vs. What Jason means.” 

Jason rolls his eyes at the title, but allows Leo to continue. 

“So first one. Jason says ‘He’ll never like me back.’” Leo reads, finger at the top one before moving down to what he had written in his scrawled handwriting. “What Jason actually means is ‘I’m not sure if Nico likes me back and because I can’t control how he feels, I’m going to lower my expectations to avoid getting hurt.’”

Ouch, Jason thinks. He’s right, but ouch. 

When Jason doesn’t speak, Leo wrinkles his nose. “Sorry. Too harsh? Again, not the expert at feelings stuff here.”

Jason shakes his head. “No- it’s good, I need it. Keep going.”

Leo nods and points at the next one. 

“Jason says ‘He offers me so much more than I offer him,’ but Jason really means ‘I’m demeaning myself to try and make up other reasons Nico wouldn’t like me to once again lower expectations.’” Leo reads it aloud before turning to Jason. “Which I’d just like to point out is complete bullshit by the way. You’re fucking awesome, Jason.”

“Thanks Leo.” Jason says, leaning his head onto Leo’s shoulder. “How many more you got?”

“Two.” Leo tells him, patting Jason’s cheek. “You’re 50% done, Mr. Statistics, we’re in the home stretch.”

“Glad to hear it.”

“Alright next up. ‘Hazel.’” Leo says. “I didn’t even translate this one because dude, come on. You know Hazel. You know that all she ever wants is for you to be happy, and she loves her brother more than anything. She would never be mad about something like that.”   
Jason gives a nod. “I know.” and he does know. Leo is right that everything that Jason’s brain concocts and spews out when he’s anxious about something is just an amalgamation of his worst thoughts and 90% of the time, he doesn’t even mean or agree with any of the stuff he’s hearing, it just comes out. That’s why he’s glad Leo is here to help him sort it all out. 

“Last one.”

Jason glances down at the paper at the last quote written near the bottom of the page. 

“I’m not Percy Jackson, I’m just boring old Jason.”

Jason sighs. 

“I just- I didn’t know how to unpack that particular phrase so I thought it would be more beneficial for you to translate what you meant.”

Leo offers Jason the pencil and takes it before writing:

I’m jealous of Percy because Nico liked him and I want Nico to like me.

Silence falls over the room as Leo reads what he wrote. 

“Jason-”

“No, no, I don’t need you to lecture me on how he doesn’t like Percy anymore- I know that.” Jason says, cutting Leo off. “I just can’t help the jealous thing sometimes, you know?”

Leo gives him a pat on the back. “Yeah, I know.”

Jason lets out another sigh, and for the millionth time this semester, Jason has had another friend help him pull the heaviest weights off his chest. Jason’s brain feels so clear and so much more okay with his own feelings and he owes it to Leo. You know me so well. Sorry again for showing up all unannounced and everything, I’ll get out of your hair-”

“Oh hell no. You think I’m going to let you  _ leave?  _ After that? You’re sleeping over and we’re going to eat all the pie and shit everyone left after Thanksgiving, okay? Maybe we’ll even watch that little baking show you love.”   
“I don’t  _ love  _ the Great British Bake off, I just said it relaxes me.”

“Perfect. You need all the relaxing you can get.” Leo says, “My mom has a face mask if you want that too.”

Jason shoves him in the arm and Leo laughs. “I’m fine at the moment.”

“Good to hear.”   
*   
“As promised, Leo and Jason spend the remainder of the night, as well as the majority of the next day hanging out, watching Great British Bake Off, and convincing each other that eating two full pies in one sitting is a good idea. When Jason finally heads home, he thanks Leo once again and feels like he’s walking on his air. Well, the pie does hit him pretty hard so he dives into bed when he gets home, but up in his brain and his heart, Jason’s feelings and thoughts are clear as day. Jason feels like one of Leo’s little contraptions, and all Leo had to do was knock him a bit on the head with a hammer to get him working right again. He dumped out all the bad stuff, as much as he could,  all that’s left is what Jason can control. That being said, when his phone starts ringing and Nico name flashes across his screen, Jason has to exercise all the control he has amassed over the weekend to not answer immediately. Jason is going for discreet as possible. He waits until the call is about to hit voicemail before snatching up the phone and answering. 

“You were going to let me go to voicemail???” Nico asks, sounding offended. “I called you to avoid the ignoring of texts, and you provided me with the call equivalent of that!”

Despite the sharp tone Nico’s using, Jason can’t help warm at the sound of his voice. 

“Sorry Neeks.” Jason says. “I promise when you call, I’ll answer it the second it starts ringing.”

“That’s more like it.” Jason can’t but help imagine the coy little smirk that is probably playing on Nico’s lips. 

“So, what’s up?” Jason inquires. “What’s wrong?”

“Does something have to be wrong for me to call you?”  Nico asks. “What if I just wanted to hear your voice?”

Jason bites back the stupid grin on his face. “Well, that’s fine too.”

Nico chuckles. “Good. But, to be candid with you, I didn’t just call to compliment you.”

“Always a catch.”

“I’m calling with a preemptive apology.”

Jason snorts. What could Nico have to preemptively apologize for? Not liking Jason back? Maybe so. 

“What are you on about?”

“I owe you this because you’ve never encountered the demon that is tech week Nico.” Nico says. “I get really busy during tech week, I never sleep, and with all my energy going into the show, I can get a bit, I don’t know not nice and I don’t want you to take it personally.”

Jason almost wants to laugh. He’s sure that Nico is overselling the fact he’s going to be a “demon” and it’ll probably just be Nico getting that little grumpy look on his face and calling Jason an ass, both of which he can handle. What he’s more worried about is that this is apparently a running occurrence of Nico spending a week of his life miserable and everyone just continues to let him do it. 

“Thanks for letting me know.” Jason says. “Now tell me this, is there anything I can do for you during the week?”   
Nico laughs. “No, no Jay, I’ll be fine. You just have to let it happen. We’ll survive the five days and by the time we open and I get to get drunk at the cast party, I’ll be good as new.”

“You’re sure?”

“Very sure.”

Despite his assurances, Jason makes a mental note to bring Nico a pop or something at rehearsal the next day to try and ease the inevitable tech week slump. He then makes a mental note to bring one for himself because Jason won’t escape those 3-9 rehearsals unscathed either. 

“Alright, that’s all I had to say.” Nico says, simply. 

“Nice knowing you.” Jason says with a chuckle, and he can almost  _ hear  _ Nico rolling his eyes.

“Yeah yeah Jay. See you tomorrow.”

“See you.”

*

Jason really thought Nico was overreacting with that whole preemptive apology stuff, but the next day when he’s MIA the entire first half of the day, Jason reconsiders. 

“Has anyone seen Nico?” Jason asks at lunch, and he’s met with a chorus of shrugs. 

“It’s tech week, dude.” Percy says, taking a bite of his sandwich. “He’s probably sulking in the theater.”   
Hazel nods. “He was gone when I woke up this morning. I think he said something about fixing microphones during lunch? Who knows.”

“By the way, when are we all going to see the show?” Piper asks, before squeezing Jason’s arm. “We have to see Jason’s Tony worthy performance.”   
Jason rolls his eyes. “All I ask is not opening night. I’m hopeful I’ll improve after that.”

“Saturday?”

“I can’t do Saturday.” Frank says. “Grandma stuff.”

“Leo and I will be at a robotics meet on Saturday so that’s not good for us either.” 

“Sunday?”

Murmurs of agreement spread throughout the group, and they message in the group chat so everyone knows the plan. Jason smiles, because he’s pretty sure Thalia who arrives this weekend will be coming to the last show as well. 

*   
When Jason does finally locate Nico, it’s after school, and he almost doesn’t see him. Nico is dressed in all black, like even more than usual, sitting in the corner with his hood pulled up hunched over his script. His nail polish is chipped, and he’s clutching a mug of what appears to be coffee, but could just a well be a caffeine filled soft drink. Jason sets a hand on Nico’s shoulder who turns and regard him with what can only be described as a “harumph,’ before turning back to his script. From the brief glance Jason caught of his face, he could see he does look terrible. Deep purple bags, hair falling over his eyes,  and a little frown on his lips. It makes Jason frown. Not to be Will Solace, but Nico needs like he needs a nap in a warm bed, preferably cuddling with Jason, and drinking soup. Maybe watching Great British Bake off. Okay, Jason is officially making his feel better Nico idea too self indulgent.

Jason pulls the pop he brought, out of the side pocket off his backpack and sets it on Nico’s script. 

A smile twitches onto Nico’s lip, but he just takes the drink. 

“Now fuck off.” Nico says. “Get your costume on.”

And Jason does.

*

By the middle of the week, Nico’s mood hasn’t really improved, but Jason has become the unofficial Nico whisperer. 

“Please ask him to get me more mic tape.” Travis asks. “My mic keeps falling off.”

“Are you incapable of asking him?”

“Oh come on Jason, he likes you the best.”   
As everyone continues to dance around Nico, except for Jason, Jason gets continually more disappointed that everyone is just letting Nico do this to himself! Nico shouldn’t have to put all this pressure on himself to get the show together, or handle the stress like this. It’s not good for him. And Jason misses him. Non-tech week Nico. 

Despite the fact all he wants to do after rehearsal on Wednesday is throw himself into bed and pass out, Jason feels the tug in his chest and finds himself stopping at home to grab things like blankets and a couple of cans of pop and his aux cord before getting back in his car. He tries to get the car warm before he drives out towards Nico’s house. 

He gets there, and after about ten minutes of Nico ignoring his texts, Jason gets out of the car, right as snow starts to fall and positions himself in front of Nico’s window. 

Jason glances around at the ground and quickly grabs some pebbles.    
It works in the movies, Jason tells himself before tossing the pebbles up one at a time to rap at Nico’s window. It takes about five or six pebbles before Nico, who Jason knew wasn’t asleep pulls it open. 

“Jason what the fuck are you doing here?”

Jason bites back a laugh. “Picking you up.”

Nico raises his eyebrows. 

“Thought I’d take you for a drive.” Jason says, a little sheepishly. “I know it’s kind of yours and Percy’s thing but-”

“Fuck Percy.” Nico says, quickly. “I’ll be down in a second.”

Jason has to resist doing his stupid little victory dance so he settles for a mental one as the lightest snowflakes start settling in his hair. As promised, Nico appears at the door in his black hoodie and big black coat and heads over to where Jason is before throwing himself into Jason’s arms, as he’s made a habit of over the past few weeks. Jason catches him in his embrace and chuckles. Electricity surges through his body, and Jason doesn’t even care that his hands are feet and whole body is getting cold as he holds Nico. 

“It’s cold.” Nico murmurs.    
“Yeah it is.”

“Want to get in the car?”

Nico nods, and Jason opens the passenger door for the smaller boy to get inside before heading to his side. 

Nico immediately wraps himself up in the blanket Jason had left for him and reaches tentatively for the can of pop Jason left. 

“That’s for you.” Jason tells him, encouraging him to take it, and Nico does, cracking it open and taking a drink. 

“Sorry.” Jason says, once they’re out on the road. “I know you said I should just leave you alone during the week and let you do what you needed to do but I couldn’t.”

Nico gives a small laugh. “I should’ve expected this. You and your superman complex.”

“I don’t have a superman complex.” Jason says. “I just care about you, dummy.”

Nico bites down on his lip, and Jason is definitely projecting, but he could’ve sworn that Nico was blushing. 

“Do you care about me enough to drive to McDonald's?” 

Jason laughs. “Of course.”

Nico smiles, and relaxes into his seat contentedly. Jason smiles too, because for the first time all week, he’s seen Nico happy.    
“How you doing?” Jason asks, after setting his GPS to the nearest McDonald's.

Nico shrugs. “Good now. Overall pretty tired, but I think I’m a lot more relaxed than I usually am during this time.”

“That’s good.” Jason says, glancing over at him. 

Nico nods. “Yeah it is.” he says, truthfully. “Must be all thanks to the “Nico whisperer.”

Jason wrinkles his nose. “I had nothing to do with that nickname.”

“Oh I know.” Nico says. “I might be in tech week mode, but that can only do so much to shut out the Stoll’s big mouths.”

They reach McDonald’s soon after and Jason pulls up behind the person currently giving their order. 

“What do you want-” and Jason cuts himself off right before  _ babe  _ slips out of his mouth on the end. Nico is none the wiser, which Jason is thankful for. 

“Can I just get a happy meal?” he asks. “I’m hungry.”

Jason nods. He pulls up and orders what Nico wants as well as a shake for himself. He reaches for his wallet, but Nico is quick to shove a twenty into his hand and close Jason’s fist around it. 

“Use this.”

“I was going to pay, Nico.”

“Use my money or I’m jumping out of the car.”

Jason reluctantly take the money and hands it over to the cashier. 

“Oh get over it.” Nico says. “Next middle of the week late night McDonald's run you can pay.”

“I’m gonna hold you to that.”

From McDonald's, the boys spend about half an hour just driving around the lake before Jason drives back to Nico’s house. Once getting there, Nico makes no move to get out, he just reclines his seat, and Jason’s as well, and the two lay there just talking. Jason feels his heart ready to burst out of his chest, and the only thing keeping him from relaxing fully, is that he has to use that little bit of self control to keep himself from just leaning over and kissing Nico on the mouth. He knows he can’t do that, so he settles on staring at his mouth as a second best thing.

“Okay.” Nico says, snapping Jason from his own thoughts. “You’re zoning out. I can tell you’re tired, and I know I’m tired, so I’m going to bed.”

Jason wants to tell him to not go, and to stay out all night, but Nico is right. He is tired.”

“Okay.” Jason says, a yawn escaping his mouth. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”   
Nico nods, and leans over to give Jason another hug, wrapping his arms around his neck and letting his lips brush at Jason’s ear. 

“Thank you.” he mumbles, sending a shiver down Jason’s spine. “Night.”

Jason knows he holds on a little too long, but he can’t help himself. He buries his face into Nico’s shoulder, letting his hands hold him against him. Finally, Jason musters up some of that control he’s been so big on and pulls back. 

“Night.”   
*

The change is completely obvious, as for the next two days, Nico is calm, talking, and showing up to lunch. All he genuinely needed was someone to care enough to help him out from his bad stress habits, and Jason knew that drive was the least he could do for him. And Jason’s motives weren’t all crystal clear. He wasn’t to keen on the Nico avoiding him thing, as Jason wants to spend all the time he can with him, so that definitely factored into his decision. And before Jason knows it, he, and the rest of the people who’ve been putting their heart and soul into this show for the past couple of months have finally reached their opening night. Nerves buzz in Jason’s mind as he gets on his costume, but there’s also this hum of excitement within him and the entire cast. They’ve worked hard on what they’re about to show the world. Once Jason is in his costume, sans his coat, the excitement only grows. He also has a much easier time walking in his heeled boots which gives him ten times more princely confidence than he ever had before. He heads over to get his microphone on, and once that’s done, he follows the familiar path to the props table to grab his little scroll thing and to visit Nico before the show starts. Nico is at his usual post and Jason can already feel himself getting all heart eyed when he sees him. He wants to sneak up on Nico, but teetering around about 6’5 in a fancy blue and gold suit and boots isn’t the most discreet costume in the world. Nico sees him coming a mile away and ushers him over. 

“Hi.” Jason says, as he reaches him. 

“Hi.” Nico smiles. 

“How’re you doing?” 

Nico rolls his eyes. “I’m fine, Jay. You can stop the worrying for my well being. Tech week is over, we’ve made it.”

“It’s kind of hard to believe it’s ending.” Jason says, a twinge of sadness filling his voice. He’s just now coming to terms with the fact that not only is this big extravagant and amazing show they’ve put on coming to an end, but so is the thing that really bonded him and Nico and allowed them that time and place to get to know each other. 

“I know.” Nico agrees. “Guess you’re just going to have to just come to my house for six hours every night to make up for it.”

“Oh I plan on it.” 

Nico smiles, and opens his arms up to Jason, who easily throws his arms around him as he has done so many times before. And for some reason, this particular hug gets Jason a little overwhelmed. Maybe it’s the situation, and the fact that Jason feels a core part of his relationship with the boy he likes is coming to a close, but Jason gets really wrapped up in the hug and the feeling of Nico and the idea that maybe Nico could reciprocate all the feelings that have been clouding his brain. Nico pulls back and Jason’s whole control and collected thoughts gets thrown out the window as Jason, beyond his control, leans in and kisses Nico softly on the cheek. His brain immediately starts screaming and sounding off sirens. What has he done? In some confused and strange attempt to make the situation less weird, Jason leans over and kisses Nico’s other cheek. He pulls back, red faced, internally freaking out that he’s just ruined all chances of anything good happening with Nico. Nico gives him this confused, questioning look for about two whole seconds before bursting out laughing. 

Jason is confused, but he think this is better than any other outcome. Unless Nico is laughing at him basically exposing to the whole world he has a crush on Nico, but Jason hopes that’s not the case. 

“Oh you poor thing.” Nico laughs, cupping Jason’s cheeks. “Connor and Travis put you up to this, didn’t they?”

Jason’s brain lights up. An out! He has been gifted an out to this situation! His acting skills might not be great, but he’s got enough in him to work with the save in front of him. 

“Yes?” he asks, with an edge to his tone. 

“Every year they tell one of the new kids about all these fake pre-show rituals, and they’re usually dumb stuff like tickling people” he explains, before motioning to Jason. “And offering cheek kisses.”

“Darn.” Jason says, reaching up and scratching the back of his neck. “I didn’t think I was that gullible.”

Nico shrugs. “Happens to the best of us. Did you do it to anyone else?”

Jason quickly shakes his head. “No. You were the first.”

“Good.” Nico replies. “Your secret is safe with me.”

And then Nico does the last thing Jason expected him to do. He gets a sly little smile on his face, and stands on his tiptoes to chastely press a kiss to either of Jason’s cheeks. Jason’s mouth falls open the slightest bit, and he lets his eyes flutter shut at the incredibly welcome feeling of Nico’s plush lips decorating his skin.

“Now we’re even.” he tells Jason, his bottom lip held between his teeth. He gives Jason’s shoulders a squeeze and turns him around. “Now go, your highness. Break a leg. I know you'll do amazing."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter! Sorry this one took a little longer. I stand by that all new chapters will be up no more than a week after the previous update, but can be shorter than that!  
> This really is the home stretch everyone! There will be three chapters after this one, and I genuinely can't believe it's almost done!  
> As always, thank you for your amazing comments and for continuing to read and enjoy.   
> New chapter soon!


	24. You forgot that

Running on the adrenaline from physical contact from Nico, Jason goes out on that stage on opening night feeling invincible. He flies through his performance, hitting all of his lines, and acting as well as he could probably muster, and by the end of it, Jason feels like maybe he should go into theatre. Well okay, he wouldn’t go that far, but he definitely knows a kiss on the cheek from Nico makes him feel like he’s capable of everything in the world. The rest of the night, taking off the costume and heading to the Perkins about ten minutes from school, Jason is walking on air.

“Jason what is going on with you?” Connor asks, as Jason slides into the booth beside him. “You’re grinning like an absolute fucking idiot.”

Jason laughs. “Show just went good.”

Connor nods. “You didn’t trip over the boots once!”

Jason laughs again and agrees, before thrusting the water in front of him into the air. “I didn’t trip over the boots once!”  
The table around them cheers, and Nico, at the table right across from him rolls his eyes but joins in on the applause and Jason’s mood only gets better.

“Oh my god, I’m so hungry.” Jason groans, pulling open the menu. Being excessively happy for two hours straight, Jason realizes, really takes it out of you. He tries for about two whole seconds to maybe quench his happiness or his hunger, but Jason has spent so much time in his life denying his feelings and holding everything in, he sees no use of continuing on that path. And, the second he sees that you can get an adult sized version of sprinkle pancakes, he’s a goner.

*

The next day, Jason has calmed down a bit, but the residual happiness Jason feels, remains.

“You answered before the ring even finished and it’s six in the morning.” Thalia grumbles. “Sometimes it makes no sense to me that we’re related.”

“Hey, you told me you were coming home early in the morning, and I didn’t know what early meant!” Jason points out. “So I got up at 5:30.”

“Your chipperness this early astounds me.”

“Are you on your way home or what?” Jason asks. “When are you getting here? Because I’ve been up for awhile and I’ve filled out like four crossword puzzles.”  
“You’re such a nerd.” Thalia tells him. “And as of one minute ago, I’m here.”

Jason, teeming with happiness, bounds down the stairs to see his sister, bags at her feet, standing in the living room with her phone up to her ear.  
“You’re back.”

She grins, pulling the phone down. “I’m back.” she confirms. “For a whole month.”

Jason laughs and runs up to her, wrapping his arms around her waist and lifting her off the ground.

“Oh no, I hate this. Please put me down.” she says, but she’s laughing as well. Jason does put her down, and quickly grabs her bags and brings them up to her room. Her room, similar to Jason’s when he came back from boarding school, is pretty empty. After leaving for college, Thalia picked up her entire life and moved it out, so all the remains is a bed, a desk, and a few bins of clothes and such she had left while away.

“How were your finals?” Jason asks, as him and Thalia settle on her bed to catch up.

She shrugs. “Fine. It was a lot of papers and I did B.S some of them, but they’re all done with and I’m not interested in dwelling on the past.”

Jason laughs. Thalia reaches over and squeezes his knee. “I’m much more interested in what has happened with you since the last time I was here.”

Boy. If only she knew. Jason contemplates for about half a second in telling his sister about his staggering crush on Nico Di Angelo, and how he’s spent this month denying it, getting boners in hot tubs, learning a heck of a lot more about Magic the gathering than he ever thought he would, and reuniting some families along the way, but that’s something Jason doesn’t think he can even get in to. At least not at the moment.

“You know what?” Jason says. “I’ve been really really _really_ good.”

Thalia smiles. And not a smirk or a teasing one, but the genuine Thalia smile that she only gets when she’s really happy.

“Any particular reason?” she asks, cocking her head a little.

Jason shrugs. “Lots of reasons.” he admits, knowing he wouldn’t be able to count on his fingers the things, let alone the people. “I don’t know, I just feel, I don’t know... happy. Like in a way I don’t think I have before.”

“I can tell.” Thalia says, softly. “You seem different, Jay. Not like a different person, but you seem much more relaxed and happier than I think I’ve ever seen you..”

Jason’s heart feels full. He didn’t know if it was just a him thing, that he was seeing all the growth, and all the changes he’s undergone since transferring to Goode and accepting himself for all he is, but other people and see too. They see that from the inside out, Jason is unashamedly flawed, nervous, goofy, emotional, nerdy, and truly happy.

He and Thalia spend the morning genuinely catching up, with Jason outlining what it’s been like for him being in the play and learning how to walk himself around in high heels, and Thalia recounting her experiences with almost drunkenly purchasing a motorcycle and actually falling in love with her English class. It’s so normal. For the past couple of years Thalia and Jason have only ever seen each other for holidays or extenuating circumstances, so to just be able to be with each other and talk about their lives like normal siblings do is amazing. Thalia takes him out for lunch, and buys him some candy as well as a “good luck” for the show tonight.

“You sure you don’t want to come?” Jason asks, one more time as he’s getting ready to leave for the show. “I feel bad having you sit around all night while I’m out.”

Thalia waves it away. “I’m seeing Annabeth, and probably Percy tonight, anyways, so I’ll be fine. Also, I’m going tomorrow when everyone else is so I don’t look like a loser.” she laughs. “Go! Have fun with your show and your party. I will be here when you come home tonight.”

“If.” Jason corrects, pulling his backpack on.

“If?” She asks, raising an eyebrow. “You planning on staying out all night?”  
Jason shrugs. “I don’t know! We’re just going to see what happens.”

“Okay Mr. Bad Boy.”

“Oh don’t you start with me.”

Thalia laughs and socks Jason in the arm. “Have fun. Call me if you need a sober cab.”  
“I will.”

*

The show goes basically as well as the first one did. Jason tripped over his boots a little at one of his entrances, but he played it off well, and Nico assured him that it was barely noticeable. Afterwards, Rachel had come to see the show as did some of his friends from the wrestling team which made Jason infinitely happy.

“What a star you are, Jason.” Beckendorf laughs as he pulls him into a hug. “We didn’t know you had it in you.”

“SO graceful.” Clarisse teases, patting him on the back.

“I can still deck you Clarisse.” Jason tells her, and she rolls her eyes.

“Oh I’d love to see you try after a month of no training. Give me the time and place.”

Instead of naming a time and place for Jason to deck Clarisse, Beckendorf suggests they all get together sometime at his house to hang out.

“Fight club?”

Beckendorf snorts. “I mean minus the whole beating each other to the ground. I’m not ruling it out, but we can do other things.”  
“Yeah. We can.”

They make plans to hang out, and after a quick chat with Drew, Jason changes out of his costume and gets ready to go.

He pops his head backstage right as he’s heading out the door.

“Neeks, need a ride to Austin’s?”

“I’m good!” he says, over his shoulder. “I’m stopping home first to change and get drinks and stuff, but I’ll be there before ten.”

Jason throws a thumbs up and then thinks to himself that he should probably change before he goes too. And a shower wouldn’t do him any harm either. Jason isn’t going to say that he wants to look good for Nico, but... He wants to look good for Nico. Yes, he wants him to like him for his personality obviously, but Jason isn’t unaware of the way Nico looks at him, so he might as well play that up.

The house is empty when he gets home, as Thalia had left earlier in the evening, so Jason takes a quick shower and then heads to his closet and calls Leo.

Leo answers pretty quickly, which he’s been getting better about after the constant calling out of their friends that Leo is hard to reach by phone.

“What’s up, man?” Leo asks.

“Nothing much, how was the meet?” Jason asks, putting Leo on speaker and setting the phone on his desk.

“We won!!!” Calypso yells into the phone. Jason should’ve assumed they’d be together.

“Oh that’s awesome.” Jason says. “Congrats you two, you deserve it.”

“Yeah we do.” Leo agrees. “Ours was the best by far.”

Jason laughs. “And he’s modest.”

“What can I say? I’m a genius.” Leo replies. “Now, are you just calling me to congratulate me, or is there something else on your mind?”

Jason did intend to ask Leo about what he should wear to the party, but in this moment of thought, Jason realizes Leo is busy right now, and he doesn’t really need Leo for this. He can handle it himself.

“Nothing else! I just wanted to make sure to congratulate you on your win.”

“Thanks, man. Hope the show went well.”  
“It did.”  
“Lit. I’ll see you tomorrow!”

“Yeah. See you!”

Jason hangs up the call and heads to his own closet and assembles a pretty basic outfit of black jeans, a white shirt, and a black bomber jacket, but Jason thinks he looks good.. He also makes the conscious decision to shove his glasses into his backpack pocket. He also shoves a handel into his backpack, and then he’s ready to go.Once in the car, Jason pulls his phone out and clicks onto the text with him, Austin, Travis, Connor, and Jake, cleverly titled “The Bromeos”  that they made last night. He messages for Austin’s address, and Austin drops a pin about a minute later so Jason sets out on his way. When he arrives out front, it’s around 9:45, and the party has already started. Jason has never been to a cast party before, but he can imagine it’s just like a regular party. And after about ten minutes of being there, and holding a trash can under a vomiting Jake Mason who had definitely been pregaming during the show, Jason’s suspicions are confirmed that it is just like a regular party. Jason has fun spending time with his cast mates, but it’s nearing ten and Jason hasn’t seen Nico, and he’s not going to pretend that he isn’t on his mind. He contemplates texting him, but Nico’s still got about five minutes before he’s officially past the time he said he’d be there. Jason passes time by getting some water from the tap, and almost immediately after sitting down on the couch, he gets pulled up to help Connor, keg stand. Connor kicks up, and Jason helps hold his legs as he drinks. He goes for a surprisingly long amount of time that has Jason a little worried for his well being, but Connor hops back up with a smile on his face, and heads out onto the makeshift dance floor in the next room.

“You are aware that you just made yourself an accessory to a crime.” says a voice behind Jason. Jason bites back a grin, but doesn’t turn around.

“And what crime is that?”

“Whatever the Stoll’s are going to get into when they’re drunk off their asses.”

Jason turns around and Nico is standing there, one hand on his hip, and the other toting a bottle of wine. Jason’s eyes flit from the raised eyebrow to the glitter on his cheekbones that Jason loves so much, all the way down to the fishnets peeking out from under his ripped jeans, and that heart boner thing Leo used to tease him about is omnipresent in this moment.

Jason glances over at the clock and then back to Nico. “It’s 10:05.” Jason says. “You said you’d be here before 10.”

“Oh give me a break” Nico laughs.

“I mean, you’re a whole six minutes late, I don’t know if I can stand for this behavior.”

Nico rolls his eyes, but steps forward and sets his ring covered hand on Jason’s chest. “I’m sorry, Mr. Grace.” Nico says, looking up at Jason through his lashes. “What if I promise to never be late again?”

Okay yeah. Nico definitely blurs the line between heart boners and real boners for Jason.

Jason reaches up and holds Nico’s hand against his chest. “I guess I can make an exception.”

Nico smiles up at him, before pulling back and shoving his wine bottle into Jason’s hands.

“Open please.”

“Okay. I think they have an opener in the kitchen-”

Jason turns to go and Nico catches his arm.

“No, do your trick.”

Jason complies, and gets the bottle open before handing it back to Nico.

“Thanks Jay.” he says, lifting the bottle up to his lips. He pats Jason on the arm and walks past him. “I have to find Lou Ellen, but I’ll see you later, okay?”

“Okay.”

Jason can’t deny that he’s a jealous that Lou Ellen gets Nico’s time instead of him, but he moves on quickly as Austin pulls him into a game of truth or dare. Jason gets dared to take off his shirt, which he could’ve seen coming a mile away, but he does it with only a minor roll of his eyes. A couple people kiss, Jake who puked and rallied goes streaking around the block, and Jason hears probably the worst rendition of “Life is a Highway” he’s ever heard in his life.  
“Lacey truth or dare?” Austin asks.  
“Dare.” she says. Lacey is always up for doing crazy stuff, which Jason finds funny because she plays the nurse in their show, which is probably one of the most-level headed characters in the show.

Austin chuckles, tossing the remainder of his drink back, and pointing over towards Jason.

“Give Jason a lap dance.”

Lacey raises her eyebrows at him, and Jason wrinkles his nose.  
“I don’t know about that.”

“Oh come on Jason.” Austin whines.

“What if Jason gives me the lap dance instead?” Lacey asks, with a laugh. “Would that be better?”  
“I mean I’d honestly prefer that.” Jason says with a laugh.

“But it’s Lacey’s dare!”

Lacey rolls her eyes. “Do you want to see a lap dance or not?”

Austin seems unsatisfied but concedes nonetheless. “Fine, fine, Jason can give the lap dance.”

Jason chuckles, standing up. “Well, I didn’t expect to hear that sentence tonight.”

The group laughs, and Jason makes his way over to where Lacey is sitting on the couch.

“You’re going to sing me a sexy song, right?” Jason asks, when he stops in front of her.

She laughs. “Oh for sure.”

Lacey begins the opening lyrics to Low by Flo Rida, and everyone around them joins in, making Jason laugh his head off as he straddles Lacey. He’s much bigger than her, and has definitely never given a lap dance before so it looks pretty goofy as Jason grinds onto Lacey. He turns around and shakes his butt in her face before turning around and doing a couple of embarrassing body rolls. After about a minute, Jason steps back and gives a dumb bow as the circle claps. Before he can even return to his spot, he feels a hand wrap around his bicep and start tugging him away.

“And that’s enough of that.” Nico says, as he pulls a stumbling Jason away from Lacey. “Jason and I are going to dance now.”

Jason isn’t complaining, but he also doesn’t really know what’s happening as Nico is pulling him away, his wine bottle near empty in his other hand. As they’re exiting the circle, Jason asks:

“Can I at least grab my shirt first?”

Nico doesn’t even turn around as he replies: “No.”

Without being able to see his face, Jason can’t read Nico’s current emotion but he is interested in why Nico, who previously seemed to be avoiding him, is now holding him with impressive force and pulling him to the dance floor. Finally, they reach their destination and Nico turns around to look at Jason.

“What’s going on, Neeks?” Jason asks.

“Nothing.” Nico says quickly, reaching his hand out and running it down Jason’s bare chest. “Just wanted to dance with my Jay.”

And by the loose touches, the downturned eyes, and the empty bottle, Jason connects the dots.

“Nico.” Jason says, catching the smaller boy by his forearms, a grin spreading onto his face. “Are you drunk?”

Nico scoffs. “No, I’m not drunk.” he says. “I’m _buzzed_ Jason. There’s a difference.”

“Oh is there?”

Nico nods. “I’m completely in control.” he says, throwing his arms out and nearly smacking the couple beside them in the head with his bottle.

“Okay, okay.” Jason says, taking the bottle from Nico and walking it over to the counter.

“You’re supposed to be dancing with me.” Nico calls after him. Jason returns in a second, and Nico grabs his hand and twirls himself under Jason’s arm.

“Why are you so adamant about this dancing with me?” Jason asks. And his self conscious thoughts wander in for a split second as he asks. “Are you trying to make someone jealous?”

Nico makes a face. “Of fucking course not.” he tells Jason, twirling Jason the other way. “I just felt like when you were lap dancing Lacey, you weren’t giving me enough attention.”

“You were the one ignoring me!” Jason says, allowing Nico to twirl him as well. “Where was my attention when you were off with Lou Ellen?”

“I came back.” he says, dryly. “Didn’t know that if I left for five minutes you would dry hump Lacey whilst shirtless.”

“It was for a dare.”

“I know.” Nico says simply, hands coming up to hold Jason’s waist and pull him closer. He avoids Jason’s gaze, focusing instead on the band of Jason’s jeans.

“Hey,” Jason says, as he’s getting a little concerned. “Are you mad?”

Nico draws his eyes up. “No.” He says, simply. “Because _I_ have you now.”

 _You’ve always had me_ , Jason wants to say, but he doesn’t.

“Yeah, you do.”

“You’re mine.” Nico reaffirms, hands sliding up Jason back, pulling the two boys even closer. “Say that you’re mine.”

And for the first time since meeting him, Jason feels like if he leaned down to kiss Nico right now, Nico just might kiss him back. Along with his glowing happiness that being with Nico brings Jason, there is this new burning feeling in the pit of his stomach that maybe, just _maybe,_ Nico feels the same way. He can’t be sure, because Nico’s drunk and he’s asking for attention in a way he often does, but this- this just feels _different._ Jason entertains the idea of admitting his feelings to Nico right here right now for about a second before shaking that wild thought out of his head and bringing his arms around Nico as well.

“I’m yours.”

*

They dance as Nico requested. Thankfully for Jason’s sanity,  they don’t stay pressed up against each other long. The happiness clouds Jason’s brain once again as Nico attempts to dip him, and complete many other elaborate tango moves Jason is pretty terrible at.

“You know nothing about the tango.” Nico says with a roll of his eyes, trying desperately to move Jason’s body in the way he wants it to go. Jason himself is more focused on making sure tipsy Nico doesn’t fall flat on his face as he’s threatened to about five times already. “Haven’t you see Moulin Rouge?”

“No!” Jason laughs.

“Well we clearly have to watch that.”

After realizing that Jason is terrible at tango, Nico himself is pretty unbalanced, and maybe the tango wasn’t the best move in the middle of a house party, Nico pulls away from Jason. Jason probably would’ve chosen to stand there badly dancing with Nico for the rest of his life, so he thinks it's good Nico pulled back. He assures Jason he’ll be return right after using the bathroom and Jason takes that window of time to return to the other room, grab his shirt, and put it back on. He somehow managed to keep anything from uh, arising when he was pressed against Nico which he thinks is an incredible feat, and he rewards himself by taking a seat on the very soft couch to wait for Nico. Nico returns about a minute later, with a shot in one hand and a Capri sun in the other. He throws back the shot and promptly sits himself down in Jason’s lap and hands him the Capri sun.

“You love these.” Nico says, wrapping an arm around Jason shoulder. “So, I got you one from the fridge. Technically they’re for Austin’s brother’s lunch, but Austin said it was okay.”

Jason laughs. “Thank you-“

And there it is again. Jason feels a pet name at the tip of his tongue. And honestly, he just wants to let it out. He’s happy with flirting with Nico and having him sit in his lap, don’t get him wrong, but Jason can feel himself craving more. He wants to be able to hold Nico and kiss him and call him stupid pet names that make him roll his eyes at Jason in the way he loves so much. Jason is nervous about his feelings being rejected and their friendship being messed up, but after the events of tonight, the indication that somehow some way Nico might feel the same, Jason has a new picture in his head. That his happiness could increase tenfold, and he and Nico could actually be together. Nico leans himself further into Jason’s touch, tucking his head into Jason’s neck and humming softly. Jason thought this would set him off, stress him out, but once again the happiness is overturning that. He feels so relaxed, so right.

The thing with Nico, is that he makes Jason feel in a way he never has before. It’s different than Piper. Not better. Just different. He thinks it’s because Piper came at a time in his life when Jason was trying his best to hide who he was. He was trying to live up to some standard he had made for himself, and she was the person he had feelings for at that point in his life. A point where he couldn’t fully give himself up to friendships let alone relationships. Although his relationship with Piper was fun, lively, sweet, and made Jason’s heart flutter, it was much more surface than the things he feels now. After everything that’s happened, Jason is a new person. Everyone can see it. He’s given himself the chance to actually feel things, and be present in his life with his mistakes and triumphs, rather than be a spectator. With Nico, he feels everything so deeply. He’s rocked with passion every time he gets a wink, happiness washes over him like a tidal wave when he gets a smile, and Jason knows this exists beyond Nico. It’s in his whole life, and Jason feels this overwhelming sense of freedom and happiness like he never has before. And like he never has before, he wants to share it. With Nico.

The party goes on around them, but time seems to have slowed as Nico and Jason sit talking. It’s about nothing, really. They talk about the show, and Magic, and all the movies they need to watch, and Jason can’t think of any other way he’d rather spend his time. Eventually, they do get dragged back into the party, having to take part in the rest of the games and sing alongs the group had in store.

Jason catches a glance at his watch and is shocked to see that it’s nearing four in the morning. Where on earth had the time gone? Jason’s seen a fair number of people puke tonight, so he’s not too keen on sleeping over.

“Hey, I’m gonna head out.” Jason says, leaning over to Nico. “need a ride or are you staying?”

Nico slumps onto Jason’s shoulder. “Ride.”

Jason helps him up, and after some goodbyes, the two boys make their exit.

“Can you walk okay?” Jason asks.

Nic snorts. “Of course I can. What would you do if I said no?”

Jason rolls his eyes. “You know what I’d do.”

Nico does, definitely, but that doesn’t stop him from messing with Jason like he doesn’t. “I really don’t. I’m drunk Jason, I can’t think straight.”

Nico gives an exaggerated bat of his eyelashes, and Jason, not one to back down from a challenge, stops them both, and hooks one arm under Nico’s legs, effortlessly pulling him up into his arms bridal style.

“You just wanted me to carry you.” Jason says, matter-of-factly, as Nico winds his arms around Jason’s neck.

“I know.” Nico laughs. “ I thought that was obvious.”

Jason carries him all the way to the car, and only drops him down so he can get in. Jason gets in as well, and Jason, whose tired is just hitting him, makes the drive to Nico’s house.

Jason pulls in outside of Nico’s house, and Nico unbuckles his seatbelt before looking over at Jason.

“Do you want to come inside?” he asks, voice getting raspy due to the late hour. “Sleep over?”

 _Yes. YES!_ Jason’s brain screams.

Jason keeps his eyes trained on Nico as he reaches for the key and turns it, shutting the car off.

“Yeah, I’d like that.”

Jason unbuckles his seat belt and follows Nico’s lead into the house. It’s dead silent, so Nico tries his best to stay quiet as they creep up the stairs, and Jason does his best to make sure Nico actually stays silent. Once in his room, they relax a bit on the silence, and Nico immediately reaches for the button on his pants. Jason’s eyes widen.

“I’m not gonna sleep in fishnets.” Nico tells him sleepily. That makes sense, but it also makes Jason’s brain a little fuzzy.

“Yeah, no, I get it.” Jason gets out quickly. “I’m going to go, uh, bathroom.”

Jason grabs his backpack and goes to the bathroom. His first decision is to splash some cold water in his face, and then he puts his jacket and shoes into his backpack, before pulling out his glasses and keeping them in hand. Once he gets back in the room, Nico is in a form of pajamas and curled up on his side of the bed, so Jason follows his lead and sets his glasses on Nico’s nightstand near the empty side of the bed.

“Are you gonna sleep in jeans?”

Jason looks down at himself. It’s going to be uncomfortable if he does.

“No.” he says, before dropping his backpack and reaching for his belt. Jason kicks his pants off quickly and gets under Nico’s covers, feeling an immediate rush of warmth as Nico simultaneously moves himself into Jason’s embrace.

“Why don’t you wear your glasses more?” Nico asks, breath against Jason’s neck. It’s so out of the blue, Jason almost wants to laugh, but he doesn't.

“They make me look like a nerd.”

Nico hums, obviously on the verge of falling asleep.

“Thas’ not a bad thing.” he tells Jason, and Jason feels his own hands coming to stroke at Nico’s back gently. “They make you look cute.”

Jason resists the urge to kiss Nico on the top of his head as his words wrap Jason up like a warm blanket. Nico’s breathing evens out, and Jason is almost sure he’s asleep and he mumbles out a: “So sweet to me,” before letting his resistance peter out, and pressing long kiss to Nico’s forehead.

And Jason falls blissfully asleep soon after.

*

The next morning, Jason pulls himself away from Nico, which is one of the hardest things he’s ever had to do, to go to the bathroom. He steps out into the hallway, closing the door behind him, and runs directly into Hazel.

“Oh! Hi Hazel.” Jason squeaks out, feeling his face flushing red. He’s internally panicking, because what does it look like when he’s coming out of Nico’s room in the morning in his underwear?

She raises her eyebrows at him. “Hi Jason. I didn’t know you stayed over.”  
Jason scratches the back of his head. “Yeah, sorry. It was just late and Nico was intoxicated, and-”

“You don’t have to explain yourself.” she snorts. “You’ve slept over here a bunch of times.”

Hazel is aggressively unbothered by his presence, and doesn’t even seem to question why he’s there which calms Jason.

Jason shrugs. “Force of habit.”

She chuckles. “I can tell. We’ll knock the politeness out of you yet.”

Jason gives a laugh as well.

“Oh what time is the show tonight, again? 7?”

Jason nods. “Yes. You’ll be there?”

“Of course! We all will. Can’t wait.”

She gives Jason a pat on the shoulder, and moves past him to her room. Jason uses the bathroom, and quickly returns to Nico’s room. Nico is still fast asleep, as Jason expected with how much he drank last night and how late they got in, so Jason makes himself useful by getting Nico some water and some Advil as he'll most likely be nursing a hangover. Nico only wakes up in the middle of Jason pulling his pants back on.

“Are you sneaking out without saying goodbye?”

Jason rolls his eyes as he buttons his pants. “Of course not.” he tells Nico. “Good morning to you too. There’s water and Advil for you on the nightstand.”

Nico hums and leans over to get them. “God bless you.”

He takes the pills and takes a sip of the water. Once finished, and once Jason has his pants on, Jason slips on his glasses and flops down right beside Nico.

“How’d you sleep?” Nico asks.

“Like a log.”

“I could tell.” Nico says with a little laugh escaping his lips. “Do you know that you snore?”

Jason laughs. “Oh yeah. It’s like a freight train.”

“You could’ve warned me.”  
“Hey, it took me this long to get into your bed, I wasn’t going to give you a reason to kick me out.”

And this is one of those moments where a burst of flirtatious confidence spills itself out of Jason’s mouth. And he doesn’t take it back.

“Fair point.” Nico muses. “I can get used to the snoring.”

Jason picks his phone out of his backpack and checks the time, wincing a little as he does so.

“Hey, I should actually get going.”

“Giving up your spot in the bed already?”

Jason gives a sympathetic smile. “If I could stay, you know I would.”

“I know.”  
Jason rolls off the bed and pulls his backpack straps on before brushing off his pants.  
“I’ll see you tonight.” Jason says. “Last show.”

“Mmhm.” Nico replies. “How far we’ve come.”

“Indeed.”

And without thinking, Jason leans down over the bed and presses another kiss to Nico’s forehead. Before he has time to regret it, he tosses a “Goodbye” over his shoulder and heads out.

Why did he do that? He doesn’t know. Well actually he does know. It was instinctual. That whole night and morning, Jason felt like him and Nico were in a relationship, and this was just the way they acted around each other, and Jason wanted to show Nico that’s what he really does want. Jason doesn’t care if he just made a mistake, it felt right, and he stands by it. Once again, Jason’s place in life now welcomes and applauds risks and feelings, and his happiness overflows any stress he might feel.

*

The stress that he is unable to trade for happiness though, is that all of his friends and Thalia are coming to the show tonight. Jason is of course happy and excited, but he can’t abandon all of his nerves at once. He has a desire to do well and show the people he cares about something he’s worked so hard on over the last few months, so that’s a lot of what’s on his mind when he’s getting ready. The other half of his mind, as it usually is, is occupied with thoughts of Nico. Jason has ignored the fact that he kissed Nico on the forehead when he was leaving this morning, but he hasn’t seen him since and he isn’t sure if he’s going to act differently as a result. Jason hopes he doesn’t. And thankfully, the show begins with nothing out of the ordinary. Jason visits Nico at his post who gives him a hug and a break a leg, and then Jason is floating onto the stage on the high he’s had the entire weekend.

The fact it’s the last show has been hitting the cast at different times throughout the day, and Jason comes to terms with it within his breaks of being onstage. He realizes it’s the last time he’ll hear the balcony scene, the last time he’ll hear swords clanging together and Mercutio’s last line. It’s making him very nostalgic for something that isn’t even over yet. Jason usually spends a lot of his time backstage beside Nico but, because tonight is the last show, Jason finds himself sitting in the wings backstage, watching the performance rather than Nico. It’s only during the scene before his last entrance of the show that Jason makes his way back over to Nico.

“Last scene.” Jason whispers, leaning against the wall beside Nico’s seat.

Nico nods. “It’s been a good run.” he murmurs, covering his headset. “I’m sad to see it go, but it will be a lot of stress off my plate.”

Jason nods. He’s sure of that. Not to say the others didn’t help him, but Nico carries that technical side of the show on his back. They would be lost without him.

“You did amazing with this show.” Jason tells him. “It wouldn’t have been half as good without you.”

Nico smiles softly. “Well I wouldn’t have had has as much fun if you weren’t here, so thank you.”

He pauses for a second before turning over to Jason. “Honestly, I wouldn’t have had anywhere near as good of a time this year if you hadn’t come to Goode. So, thank you for just… I don’t know, being in my life.”

“You’re getting all nostalgic on me.” Jason says, but he can feel the inkling of tears in the corners of his eyes. “Thank you for being a big part of why this was the best four months of my life.”

Nico and Jason stare at each other with this intensity, this emotions behind both of their words and their gazes that is snapped the second they hear a painful cry onstage, signaling the death of one of their leads.

“Crap, I’m on soon.” Jason says, pulling himself out of the way he was feeling two seconds ago. Nico pulls off his headset and stands up to adjust Jason’s sleeves and collar.

“You’re going to kill it.” Nico tells Jason, folding over his collar.

“You think so?”  
“I know so.”

Nico finishes with Jason’s collar, letting his hands slide down to his chest before looking up at him.

“Do you have everything you need?” Nico asks.

Jason nods. He can hear that his his entrance is just a couple of lines away. “I don’t think I’ve forgot anything.”

He turns around to prepare for his entrance, but the second he does, Nico grabs his arm, whips him back around, and much to Jason’s surprise, he smashes his lips against Jason’s.

Jason feels an inordinate amount of emotions. Shock, stress, love, affection, horniness definitely, and despite all that, Jason immediately cups the smaller boy’s face and kisses him back. He kisses him like he’s been waiting for it his whole life, which Jason honestly thinks he has. And for someone whose mind never stops running, kissing Nico takes away every bad, every intrusive, every overthinking thought that Jason has ever had, and replaces it with the calm warm feeling that he is _home._ To Jason, the kiss feels like it goes on for hours, but he knows it’s only a few seconds because he can hear the lines onstage behind him, but he’s drowning them out. But then it’s his cue line, and as swiftly as Nico surprised attacked, he pulls back from Jason.

With kissed out lips and a raspy voice, Nico mutters: “You forgot that,” before shoving Jason hard enough for him to stumble out onstage for his last scene. And when Jason stares out the spotlights and the sold out audience, his mind goes completely blank.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHHHHH!!!! It's here! They kissed! And i'm sorry for the cliffhanger but also not because I looooove the drama of it all.  
> Also holy CRAP. This chapter marks me passing 100,000 words. Not only did I literally never think this fic would get this long, this is also the longest thing I've written in my entire life which is a huge ass accomplishment for me.  
> Thank you all SO MUCH for keeping up with this story and always being the freaking nicest in the comments. I love this fic so gd much and I hope you all enjoy it as well.  
> Two chapters left ya'll!  
> Updates will always be within a week.


	25. A future lit up with possibilities

_Nico kissed me. Nico kissed me. Nico KISSED ME._ For the life of him, Jason cannot get his brain to think about anything else. His mind is clogged with thoughts of Nico’s curly black hair, and soft skin, and the fact that his tongue tastes like black licorice. He can’t think about anything except for the fact the guy he’s been pining over, the guy he thought could never feel the same, just kissed him and nothing else matters.

Jason stares out at the crowd, starry eyed, with his crown tilted sideways and the most intense blush covering his face. He stares out at his friends in the front row, Thalia too, all looking at him with anticipation. Looking at him like they’re expecting him to do something or say something, and Jason can’t figure out why.

That is, until Jake beside him grabs his arm, pulling Jason’s gaze onto him.

“I’m sorry to have you up so early, my lord.” Jake says, raising his eyebrows at Jason.

 _That’s not in the script._ Jason thinks, and then he realizes OH YEAH. Dumb dumb Jason is in the middle of a play.

“It’s alright!” Jason says, before realizing that’s not the thing to say and backpedaling. He dramatically pulls down his eyebrows and clears his throat before saying: “I mean, What misadventure is so early up, That calls our person from our mornings’ rest?”

Jake looks at Jason like he’s a complete and total idiot, and Jason is sure he looks like one, but he can’t really be bothered to care. Jason stays as present as he can in the scene as all of his thoughts start flooding back into his brain, and it’s only Jason’s innate desire to keep him from letting a team down that he continues to perform in the way he knows he has to.

He’s been running on an overflowing happiness for these shows the past two nights, and this last scene is no different. Actually that’s not true. It is different. It’s on another plane. Jason is pretty sure he’s out there giving the performance of a lifetime. Oscars, Tonys, Golden Globes, Grammys, every single award show to every exist is in awe of Jason’s performance. It’s dramatic, probably over dramatic, and Jason channels his never ending thoughts of Nico playing in his head into imagining a tiny exasperated Nico telling Jason his lines as they come up in the show. Jason tries his best to keep his head in the game, but it becomes increasingly hard during the Friar’s big speech when Jason is staring out at the crowd again. He sees his friends. He ses Hazel and Frank, Leo and Calypso, Percy and Annabeth, and Jason can imagine himself and Nico right there beside them. He looks at Thalia and sees himself, Thalia, and Nico spending holidays together. He sees Piper and Nico teaming up on him to give him a better fashion sense and spending movie nights together. Jason looks out on the crowd and he sees his whole future ahead of him within the people in that first row. A future lit up with possibilities, and fun, and oh okay it’s Jason’s turn to talk again. Jason thinks he better try and reroute his brain until after the show. With his best effort, Jason proceeds throughout the scene, and finishes the play, delivering his last lines out to the audience. The audience explodes in applause and Jasper basks in it as his cast comes up to join him. Jason’s mind begins to buzz once again as the bows come around. And then all that stands between him and Nico is a curtain. Jason turns to exit, and the second he makes it backstage he is shoved back on by Travis, who thrusts a bouquet of flowers into his hand.

“We have to thank the crew.” Travis says, followed by two others holding bouquets. “You got Nico, okay?”

Jason nods quickly, and Travis takes the mic first. Jason watches what he does. He asks the crowd to take a seat for a minute while they do thank yous. He premises his thank you and Jason quickly realizes his is going out to Rachel for doing the set. One by one people get pulled up onstage, Hazel being among them, and then there’s just two left. One for the director, and the one in Jason’s hand for Nico. The microphone gets passed to him and Jason takes it, looking back out on the crowd.

“Hey, Hi everyone, I’m Jason.” he says, giving a stupid wave. Jason didn’t plan anything out in his head so he’s going off the cuff, which in the past has never been Jason’s strong suit. “And It’s my turn to thank someone on the crew. Okay so here goes, uh, well this person is someone everyone in the cast loves. I mean he knows Shakespeare like the back of his hand, and is always just perfect at knowing everything about the show, and about us so that he can help us and do his job in the best way possible. I can’t count the ways this person has helped me, I mean all of us, and I think flowers shows only a fraction of the gratitude and well, the love we have for our stage manager, Nico.”

The crowd hoots and hollers, as does the cast, and then he appears in all black with his hair tied up from his face. He hates all the attention, Jason knows he does, but he deserves it. He walks towards Jason, shy from the gaze of the crowd with his eyes locked on Jason’s. Jason’s face lights up in a stupid smile. He hands Nico the flowers and Nico takes them gingerly. He mouths a thank you to Jason before giving one last wave to the crowd and turning on his heels and disappearing backstage once again. Jason passes off the mic, and as the director gets thanked, Jason just can’t wait to get out there.

To get off the stage and out of this costume and get to his real life, because right now, he has so much out there waiting for him. They give one final bow to the audience, who is at a standing ovation, and then everyone files backstage. Jason, being center stage at the time, is one of the last to get off, but the second he does, he doesn’t make a beeline to get his mic off. He doesn’t start changing into his real clothes and going out to see his friends waiting for him, he looks around for the boy who kissed him earlier tonight. He’s not in his usual seat, so Jason walks through the backstage area before dipping his head into the wood room and finding Nico, leaned up against the wall, studying the flowers in his hand with a smile. Jason’s heart thrums in his chest, and he wastes no time in walking right up to Nico, taking the flowers out of his hand and setting them aside, before leaning in just enough so their lips are barely brushing.

Jason and Nico stare into each other’s eyes and Jason has so many things he wants to say, but before he can do any of that, he needs to kiss Nico again. And he does. He braces the wall behind him and kisses Nico with an amount of passion that can only be paralleled by the passion had when Nico kissed Jason. Nico’s tongue easily finds its way into Jason’s mouth, and Jason wraps his arms around Nico’s waist. The two boys hold on to each other as they kiss, as if they’re anchoring each other to the rest of the world out there. Jason knows he could keep kissing Nico forever, because it feels so good, but he wills himself back just enough to talk.

“I have so much to say.” Jason blurts out. “I- I like you. I have the biggest crush on you and it’s actually embarrassing how much I like you because I think about you basically every second of the day. And I’m not just saying that because you’re attractive because you are, I mean I thought you were hot the first day we met, but it’s so much more than that. I like you because you care about people and their feelings when no one else does, you’re so good at listening, and you make me want to be the best version of myself. I’m sorry that I’m rambling but I’ve just spent _so_ much of my life keeping my feelings down that-“

Jason’s ramblings are cut off by Nico’s lips pressing against his. It’s soft and short, but Jason’s frame softens under the touch. He experiences the same absence of thought he felt the last time Nico kissed him. The second Nico pulls back though, Jason just picks up where he left off.

“And I don’t know what this means for you but for me-“

And with a roll of his eyes, Nico kisses Jason once again, effectively stopping him in his words once again.

“That was supposed to shut you up.” Nico says, breathless.

Jason laughs and leans his forehead onto Nico’s. “Sorry.”

“You talk way too much when you get excited.” Nico tells Jason. “And I know you can stand here and talk all night but our friends are out there waiting for us.”

Just as Jason’s face starts to fall, Nico reaches up and cups his cheek. “But hey, I get my time later.” Nico says, firmly. “I can’t promise a romantic monologue but I want to say my feelings too. Because, well, Jason-- you’re it.”

“I’m what?”

“Remember when I told you about that stupid idea in my head about my perfect boyfriend?” Nico says, face flushing. “Well, you’re it.”

“Nico…” Jason says, stepping forward so that Nico and him are chest to chest once again.

“Don’t don’t don’t.” Nico says quickly, seeming almost embarrassed at his admission. An admission that Jason wanted so badly to hear. Nico sets his hands on Jason’s chest and pushes him back. “Like I said, I get my time later.”

Nico reaches up and lets the pad of his thumb glide gently over Jason’s bottom lip, most likely trying to make sure he doesn’t look like he was just in a heated make out when he sees his friends.

“Ready to go?” Nico asks, running  a hand through his own hair to smooth it back into place.

“Do we have to?” Jason asks, biting back a smile.

Nico gives him a look, and Jason’s smile takes up his whole face.

“Don’t say anything until after we’ve talked, okay?”

Jason nods, leaning in and giving Nico one last kiss. “Okay.”

Nico ushers him off, and Jason bounds over to take off his mic. His head is still buzzing, but Jason doesn’t mind. It’s pleasant. It’s like the whole universe is telling him about all the amazing things he has and getting him excited for everything that lays ahead. Jason gets his mic off and straightens his costume one more time before trying to get his brain to calm down into a more functional thought process. And when Jason sees his friends bright smiling faces, it’s not hard to think about the amazing people he has literally right in front of him. The second they catch sight of him, Jason is dog piled. Once he catches the group in his arms, he looks down and identifies the three as Hazel, Leo, and Piper.

“So good Jason.” Piper grins.

“Why did you keep saying you were bad? That was great!” Hazel says, hitting him in the chest.

“Where the FUCK is the oscar for my hunky leading man?”

Jason laughs at that last one. “Plays gets Tonys, Leo.”

“I don’t care.” Leo laughs. “All I know is my boy put his best effort in and looked the best up on that stage so I think you deserve an award.”

“You inflate my ego way too much.”

“Isn’t that a best friend’s job?” Leo asks, giving his trademark impish grin. “I’m your personal hype man for life.”

Jason gives him another hug, one of those bone crushing ones that Jason hopes lets his friend know just how great he is.

Jason continues on down the line, thanking Frank, Reyna, Calypso, Will, and Grover for coming, as well as receiving a bouquet of flowers from Percy and Annabeth who decided to be a stand in for Jason’s parents and embarrass him just as if he was their son. Just as Percy is about to go in for the noogie, Jason feels a hand on his shoulder. He turns to see his theatre teacher smiling at him.

“Nice work, Jason.” she smiles, giving him a hug. “Will I be seeing you in Theatre 2 next semester?”

Jason glances over at Nico, who had just come out and is currently getting the same treatment from their friends that Jason received.

“You know what? You just might.”

“Glad to hear it.”

After what seems like a million years, Jason reaches his sister. Thalia had been waiting patiently at the end of the line of adoring fans, and when Jason finally gets to her, she wastes no time in tossing her arms around his shoulders and hugging him so tight. Jason is pretty sure he knows where he inherited his bone crushing hugs from.

“Good job.” she says with a smile. “Never in a million years did I think I would see you up on stage in a play.”

Jason rolls his eyes. “New year new me?”

Thalia laughs. “Entirely.” she agrees. “It was really good, Jay. I liked how dramatic you went in that last scene. Did you chug a red bull or something before you came on?”

Jason bites back a smile. “Something like that.”

Thalia glances down at her shoes for a second before looking up and telling Jason: “Mom and dad should’ve been here. I’m sorry they suck.”

Jason feels a slight pang in his chest. Yeah, their parents do suck, and there is this small part of Jason that aches for his parent’s approval and presence in his life. But right now, Jason doesn’t care about that. Because Thalia’s here, his best friends in the world are here, and the boy who just kissed him is here. People who really care about seeing Jason shine and are the family he never really had growing up are here and that’s what matters.

“Don’t be sorry.” Jason assures her, pulling her under his arm. “I’ve got everything I need right here.”

Him and Thalia talk a bit more, but it’s not long before the groups converge to form one large mass taking up the hallway.

“Info is in the group chat but we’re all heading over to my house, now.” Percy says. “We want to celebrate our talented friends and my mom misses you guys so she insisted I invite you all over.”

Carpool plans begin to be made, and Jason looks over at Nico who is staring back at him as well.

“Uh, me and Jay have some show stuff we have to stay after for, but we’ll be around soon.”

“Do I have to stay for that?” Hazel asks, cocking her head..”

“No.” Nico and Jason say in unison. She gives Nico a questioning look, but thankfully doesn’t press.

After one last round of hugs, Thalia and the rest of their friends depart to Percy’s, and Nico and Jason are left alone. They part ways to separately finish up their stuff. Nico puts away microphones and shuts off lights, while Jason gets back into his real clothes. They meet up at the entrance to the school, and although Jason wants nothing more than to jump Nico’s bones, he settles for slipping his hand into his and walking with Nico right by his side. And although they had held hands many times before, Jason can feel the difference.

Once in Jason’s car, Jason looks to Nico.

“So, what’re we doing?” he asks, setting his hand on the center console. Nico reaches over and grabs it, lacing their fingers.

“Drive around the lake?”

And that’s exactly what they do.

*

As promised, when they’re parked, Nico shys away from Jason’s gaze but fulfills his earlier promise.

“I’ve never been one for romantics. Or relationships. Or a lot of feelings of any kind really.” Nico tells him. “But I really fucking like you, Jason. And I’ve been really obvious about my crush so I’m sure you’ve known for a long time, but like you said, it’s so much more than that.”

Jason squeezes his hand, and Nico squeezes it right back.

“I don’t know how to explain it, but I think that when we met, I was pretty much in the same place as you. I was just going through the motions, letting my life pass by around me without really giving myself up to it. You’ve helped me, and everyone here a lot more than you know, just by being who you are.”

That’s hard for Jason to process. Taking compliments has never been his strong suit, and now is no exception. Jason hasn’t been going out of his way to help and inspire anyone. He felt like these past few months he had been selfish more than anything else, but that’s what he thinks Nico is getting at. Nico likes him because Jason has worked hard to be himself, against the odds and the obstacles Jason put in his own way, and he’s come out the other side stronger. He really is the person he wants to be rather than the person Jason thought people wanted him to be.

Jason looks over at Nico, and he doesn’t think it’s possible, but his heart warms even more.

“I could talk your ear off about how hot you are and how much I like you, but I know you’d hate that.” Nico laughs. “So, that’s my important stuff, and I’ll cut it off here.”

Jason recalls that Nico told him he’s couldn’t promise that he’d deliver a romantic monologue. What a liar.

“Can you stop staring at me and say something already?”

“Be my boyfriend.” Jason says, staring Nico straight in the eyes.

“I thought you’d never ask.”

Jason grins at the boy beside him, and with some quick moves, Jason unbuckles his seat belt, and pulls the lever that tilts Nico’s seat all the way back. Nico yelps and Jason quickly crawls over the center console to straddle his boyfriend.

He leans down and kisses him, and Nico all but melts into his touch.

“I wasn’t kidding yesterday, when I said you were mine.” Nico whispers, kissing Jason softly.

“And I wasn’t kidding when I told you I was yours.”  
*

Things get very lovey dovey, and maybe the slightest bit heated in the car, but Jason and Nico don’t take too long for themselves as they know their friends are waiting for them. They make the short drive to Percy’s apartment, and they can see through the window that things are in full swing.

“So. How are we breaking it to our friends that their beloved boys are no longer single?” Jason asks, with a grin on his face.

Nico thinks for a second before leaning over and whispering into Jason’s ear, despite them being the only ones in the car. Nico raises his eyebrows and Jason laughs.

“Really?”

Nico shrugs. “I’m a fan of the dramatics.”

“I’m well aware of that.”

“Are you in, Grace?”

“Oh, I’m in.”

Nico and Jason agree on their plan and seal it with a kiss before joining their friends in Percy’s apartment. Sally opens the door for them, embracing both boys in a hug before returning to her seat at the table where she’s talking to Thalia. Jason smiles at Thalia, currently cradling Estelle in her arms who smiles back. The rest of the gang is posted up in the living room, currently trying to play Cards Against Humanity with way too many people. Jason recalls something that Piper said to him, that getting all of their friends together in one room is like the real life equivalent of their group chat. There’s tons of conversations buzzing over, everyone laughing, reacting, and just a general amount of mayhem. Jason and Nico join in so easily. They team up for Cards Against humanity, thinking that adding two more people would be more than the group could handle. Nico sits himself in Jason’s lap and no one thinks anything of it.

Obviously, because they don’t know yet that Jason and Nico are together, but it gives Jason an odd sense of comfort. The comfort that no matter who he’s dating, what he does, or who he is, his friends aren’t going anywhere. Jason’s probably already filled his quota of unprompted love declarations to his friends, but Jason’ll spend his life doing it if it means he gets to keep this family he’s had the fortune of finding at Goode high school.

Nico wraps his arm around Jason and puts his lips to his ear, pulling Jason out from his thoughts.

“Can we do it now?”

Jason nods and pulls out his phone, the smile finding its way onto his face as it always does when he’s talking with Nico. He types something out and lets his thumb hover over the send. He looks at Nico who nods and Jason presses it, effectively sending an alert to every single person in the room.

_Jason renamed that chat “JASON AND NICO ARE DATING! THIS IS NOT A DRILL. PLEASE FLIP SHIT ACCORDINGLY."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHHHHHHH!! ONE! CHAPTER! LEFT!  
> guys im so emo. what the heck.  
> This fic has been such a wild ride and so much freaking fun watching these characters, especially my boy Jason grow into who he is today. I'm not going to get too sappy, as I'm reserving that for my last chapter but as I always do, I want to thank you all for reading, enjoying, and continuing to give me so much support throughout the writing of this fic.  
> I love it so much and I hope you do too.  
> Stay tuned, the final chapter of More Than Survive will be up within a week :)


	26. More Than Survive

_ One year and a half later.  _

_ Graduation Day. _

 

Jason woke up too early. He always does, but today it was kind of out of control. Waking up at 5am when the big event you’re having is in 12 hours is definitely overkill, but Jason couldn’t help himself. He has this nervous excitement within him, a feeling he’s become accustomed to over the past two years, but it hangs expectantly as if is the last time he’ll be feeling quite like this. 

The end of high school is weird, Jason thinks. He’s never experienced something so final; a single event that marks the end of one chapter of his life and the beginning of the next. And right now he’s in that limbo phase, feeling stuck between where he’s been and where he’s going. There’s a part of Jason, the nervous part he still isn’t quite able to ignore, that fills him up with that doubt that maybe high school was the best times of his life. If someone had told him that the last year and a half were the best of his life and that it was only downhill from there, he’d have half a mind to believe them. That seems to be what happens when you experience a time that is so full of happiness and shaping of who you are. High school does that to a person. But despite the nerves, the excitement within him propels him forward as it always does. If this is where he was in high school, if Jason felt so happy and fulfilled in this point of his life, then everything that comes next should be even better. Percy made it a habit of telling Jason throughout the year how much he enjoyed college, and Jason does not doubt he will feel the same way. It’ll be a new kind of happiness and fulfillment to enjoy. Not better, just different. 

Jason, still in bed, reaches blindly for his glasses just as the sun starts rising through the curtains of his bedroom. He shoves on his glasses and pads over to his desk to grab his phone. As he presses the home button, his phone lights up with an image of him and his friends arm in arm at the end of the year bonfire. It only takes about a half a second of Jason looking at it before he sets it down, feeling a lump form in his throat. It’s much much too early to be getting nostalgic about all of them going their separate ways in the fall. Anyways, Jason has other things to fill his time. He needs to go over his speech, make sure he has an outfit to wear, mingle with the relatives that came out of the woodwork for his graduation, and the most pressing issue, shaving his beard. 

Okay, Jason wouldn’t call it a beard, but it’s definitely a substantial amount of stubble. The blonde whisps at his chin are the product of Jason getting buried in final projects and papers as well as taking the Tennis team to state and not taking the time to keep up with his personal hygiene. Jason doesn’t mind it too much, but he’s driven to shave as for the past three weeks, Nico has refused to kiss him without complaining about the facial hair and making a disgusted face first. And as much as Jason enjoys that cute little face with the pulled down eyebrows and the wrinkled nose, he definitely prefers it when his boyfriend gives him that fond look before he kisses him. The same fond look he gave him right before he told Jason he loved him the first time. 

God okay, Jason really can’t get nostalgic. Especially about Nico. He shakes those thoughts out of his head and wills himself out to the bathroom to take a shower. 

Post shower and shave, Jason feels refreshed, and more awake. It’s still early, but it’s got to the time where people in the world typically get up to go to work and get ready for school. Jason still has about eleven hours until he has to be anywhere, so he takes his time in getting dressed in some casual clothes to spend the day in, and looking over the speech that’s been printed out and sat on his desk the past two days. 

Jason has rewritten this speech about a hundred times in the past month, and acts as a testament to the fact that Jason, although a fan of preparing, should not have been given this much time to write this speech. It gave him way too much time to overthink everything he’s writing. Jason wonders why he’s so nervous about it. He’s had the pressure of speaking in front of people many times over the past year, in the fall play  _ “Our Town,”  _ doing college interviews, captaining the tennis team, and even accepting his fair share of awards, but for some reason, this one is getting Jason, in his head. He thinks it’s because he wants it to be perfect. He wants this speech to perfectly encompass just how much Goode High School has done for him, and how he will take that moving forward. 

Jason’s struggled with nerves and the speech itself for so long because how do you thank a school who has given you everything? How could Jason possibly pay tribute to a place that gave him his best friends, his first love, the first place Jason felt truly a part of something, and  the springboard for his whole future. He’s just not sure it’s possible. But after reading what he’s written, he thinks he’s as close as he probably can. 

**Thalia**

_ Hey r u up? _

**Thalia**

_ Who am I kidding. If I’m up you’re up.  _

Jason chuckles at the texts from his sister lighting up his phone who is just a hallway away from him.

**Jason**

_ Yeah I’m up. Why are you up? You’ve made it very clear that any time before noon is too early for you to function. _

**Thalia**

_ Try sleeping in the same room as the cousins. They snore. So loudly. I’m only awake because it’s genuinely impossible to sleep.  _

Jason chuckles. 

**Jason**

_ Come to my room. U can take my bed and hopefully get back some of that sleep you lost.  _

**Thalia**

_ I’m not taking ur bed. It’s your big day! You know me, I just love to complain.  _

**Jason**

_ I insist. I’m gonna go take a walk anyways. I would run but I already showered this morning so a walk is my filler. _

Rather than replying, Thalia just appears a minute later with a blanket around her shoulders and her black hair spiked up in all different directions. 

“The man of the hour.” she croaks, her voice raspy as a result of the lack of sleep. She opens her arms and gives Jason a hug. “How’re you feeling?”

Jason smiles. “Fine.”

“Just fine?”

“I’m nervous slash excited, but overall, I’m fine.”   
Thalia nods. “Just checking.”

Ever since she’d come back from school, Thalia seemed to be waiting for the moment when Jason would tell her he wasn’t fine. He doesn’t think she means anything by it, it’s more of a habit. Because for the majority of his life, Jason would out a guise of being fine over what he was dealing with. And now, for the past year and a half, he’s truly been fine and both of them have been having trouble adjusting accordingly. Getting used to feeling your feelings and accepting them has been a long road for Jason and he’s thankful Thalia has been here the whole way, checking in on him, and always watching out for him like she has his whole life. 

He gets Thalia situated in his bed, and he’s pretty sure she’s asleep by the time he slips on his shoes and heads outside. He tiptoes through the house so as not to wake anyone and steps outside into the warm morning sun. He pulls some headphones out of his pocket and shoves them into his phone so he can listen to the running playlist that Hazel and Nico so kindly collaborated on for him. The familiar hum of relaxing morning music fills his ears as Jason strolls throughout the neighborhood. When he’s not running, Jason has the ability to take in everything around him, which is something he’s been doing a lot of lately. 

He wants to freeze the picture and remember everything he can before he leaves in the Fall. When he’s living six hours away in Claremont, he knows he’s going to miss all the little things from home so he pays them extra attention on his morning walk. Time passes as Jason finishes his walk, makes himself breakfast, and settles in to watch some netflix, and finally finally people start to wake up. Not just in his house, but all over the city. 

_ Hazel changed the chat name to “Happy day of everyone abandoning Hazel” _

**Leo**

_ Hazel u know if we had any means of bringing u up a grade we would _

**Leo**

_ Like I could break into the principal's office change ur grade and print u out a diploma if u want _

**Hazel**

_ Please do. It’ll keep me from burning the school down next year just out of sheer boredom _

**Annabeth**

_ I already foresee these texts getting subpoenaed and being the evidence that puts u two in jail for a crime _

**Hazel**

_ Ugh ur probably right. Whatever. I’m happy for u guys I guess.  _

**Percy**

_ U definitely weren’t this sad when we graduated _

**Will**

_ Its because she likes us better _

**Frank**

_ We love you Hazel !!!! _

**Jason**

_ Yes we do! _

The chat continues, but Jason is drawn away by texts from Nico lighting up his phone. 

**Nico**

_ We’re still on for dinner tonight, right? Persephone has the day planned by the minute and she’s making me double check everything.  _

**Nico**

_ Dinner is at 5 and we have a table for 8? Right? Me, haze, persephone, dad, you, Thalia, and ur parents? _

**Nico**

_ Is that all? Or do you have a secret equally handsome twin you haven’t told me about? _

**Nico**

_ Also good morning lmao. I love you how are you. _

Jason chuckles. 

**Jason**

_ Morning, my love! Yes we’re still on for dinner, yes 8 people, and no I don’t have a secret twin brother but how sick would that be? _

**Jason**

_ But if u dumped me for my handsome twin brother I would be SO MAD _

**Nico**

_ I mean he’d probably be less of a nerd.  _

**Jason**

_ Take it back I’m sensitive _

**Nico**

_ Never _

**Jason**

_ NICO _

**Nico**

_ Ugh fine. I would not dump you for your sexy less nerdy hypothetical twin brother.  _

Jason smiles, and before he can reply, Nico sends another text.

**Nico**

_ You know how much I love you _

And even after a year and a half of dating, things like that melt Jason’s heart, and will probably continue to melt Jason’s heart for the rest of his life. Jason doesn’t know what he’s going to do next year when he’s not able to see Nico all the time. When he can’t just steal him for late night drives and when he won’t see him at school everyday. Nico will only be about a half an hour away from him, Jason reminds himself. He also reminds himself he has the whole summer before he’s at Pomona and Nico is at Occidental. 

**Jason**

_ I do. And times that by 10 and that’s how much I love you.  _

**Nico**

_ Oh my god you always have to one up me don’t you _

**Jason**

_ Of course _

**Nico**

_ You’re impossible. See u at 5 x _

As Jason’s extended family begins to wake up for breakfast and take up space in the living room, Jason gets trapped in the ever continuing circle of praise for his graduation and comments on how old he’s become. Jason doesn’t mind it. After all, his family is usually pretty absent. Jason hadn’t seen half of these people since Thalia’s graduation, and before that it was probably when he was under ten years old. He’s not really sure why they’ve all come. It might be an obligation thing, but Jason thinks it’s a result of his mom and Thalia bragging about him and the fact he’s valedictorian that brought them to their little house. And Jason is proud of himself too, so it’s gratifying to say the least to see other people proud of him too. 

Jason spends a couple of hours with family, but excuses himself around two for a prior engagement. 

“You have to be back by 4:30.” Thalia tells him as he’s slipping on his shoes. “Nico texted me that if we’re not on time to dinner he’s going to slit my throat, so we’re not going to be late because of you.”

Jason snorts. “I will be back, I promise. I just have to see my friends.”

Thalia smiles. “I know you do.”

Jason grins at her and heads out of the house into the sunshine. He has half a mind to walk to Piper’s just because of how nice it is, but he’s supposed to be there in ten minutes and he definitely doesn’t walk fast enough to make it in that time. So, he takes the car, and drives with the windows down, feeling the warm summer breeze on his skin. 

The drive to Piper’s is short and familiar and when Jason gets there, Piper quickly pulls him in the doorway with a hug as she had so many times before. 

Jason hugs her back and glances around before rolling his eyes.    
“Leo isn’t here yet, is he?”   
“Of course he’s not.” Piper laughs. “He’s never anywhere on time.”

“I thought we cracked it with the giving him a meeting time a half an hour before we were actually trying to meet.”   
“I know, but I think he figured it out.”

“He’s unbelievable.”

Piper laughs, and looks up at with Jason with shining admiration in her eyes. 

“You know who else is unbelievable?” she asks, giving him a little push in the chest.  “You, Mr. valedictorian!” 

A blush creeps onto Jason’s face. 

“I’m so proud of you.”

“Thank you Piper.” he beams. 

She smiles. “And you know that our friend group is also so proud of you, so I have a little present from us to you.” she tells him. “I was going to wait for Leo to get here, but I’m impatient and don’t have time to wait seven hours for him to get here.”

“You guys didn’t have to do anything.” Jason says, trying to wave away the kindness his friends always insist on putting on him. “It’s not that big of a deal.”

“Yes it is.” Piper says, completely ignoring Jason. “And you know our friend group. We’re always going to do something. It’s small so don’t get all huffy, it’s just something to show you how much we love you. 

Piper leads Jason up to her bedroom and he sits down on her bed, waiting for her to pull out some box or some other ridiculously wrapped item, but instead she produces her laptop. She hides the screen form Jason as she logs in and does a couple of things before setting the laptop in front of Jason. The screen showcases a black screen with a play button, and Jason feels as if he’s transported to a year and a half ago, when he auditioned for Romeo and Juliet and received a similar gift. He looks to Piper who offers only a soft smile as Jason presses the play button. The screen lights up with Piper herself. 

“Hi Jason.” she smiles. Jason looks over at her again, and she reaches up and sets her arm around him, leaning in to watch as he turns back to the screen. “I know you’re trying not to get nostalgic, but I saw the opportunity to give you another good luck video and I took it. I love you so much Jason. You’ve been my rock over the past year and a half and I can’t count the ways you’ve helped me. I know you’re going to be great with your Valedictorian speech. Don’t overthink it, and don’t forget how proud we all are.”

She blows a kiss to the camera, and Jason isn’t one bit ashamed as tears prick in the corners of his eyes. Piper had also been his rock over the past year and a half. They understand each other so well, and no matter what happened between them, there was a continuous undying care and love for the other. Jason could count on Piper with anything, and he is so happy she was not only one of his first friends at school, but also one he thinks he’ll have for the rest of his life. 

The scene switches to Annabeth in her dorm room. 

“I always knew you were the smartest one in your grade.” she says with a laugh. Jason’s heart swells. It was so hard to say goodbye last year when her, Percy, Reyna, and Grover graduated, so anytime Jason gets to see them makes him happy. “I know that you saved me senior year from my stress with your cuddling and genius math brain so I hope that you knew I was there in spirit with you this year. You’re going to crush this whole speech thing, and I’m so excited to see you this summer. Love you Jay.”

As Annabeth fades from the screen, Percy takes her place and Jason reaches up to brush at the tears now finding their way down his cheeks. Piper squeezes his arm a little tighter and Percy who probably filmed this on his phone in between classes gives a big grin to the camera. 

“My fuckin’ bro.” he grins. “I’m so proud of you, dude. Honestly, you’re like a little brother to me. I see so much of me in you, but obviously you’re much smarter and blonder and bigger than me.” he continues with a laugh. “I’m just happy I got to see you grow into the man you are and good luck on your big speech. I know you’re going to do great, you know you’re going to do great, and I can’t tell you how glad I am that you beat Malcolm Pace out of valedictorian. Dude’s a nerd. Love you and I’ll see you tonight.”

Jason can’t even begin to think about the tears running down his face as his heart thrums in his ears and against his chest. Jason doesn’t even know how to comprehend that he had been given the best people on earth to be in his life. It’s not even an exaggeration. Jason feels like the second all of his friends came into his life, it turned his life on it’s head and put him on the path he’s been wanting to be on his whole life. 

The videos continue, with each of his friends graduated and still in school delivering him messages and good wishes for his speech. Frank thanks him for helping him with training and playing chess with him. Reyna reminds Jason of how great he is at speaking, and Will congratulates Jason with the sunniest grin he’s ever seen. And Grover whos’ abroad for the semester even sends his well wishes and promises to make Jason some more brownies, earning  a laugh from Jason. 

And when Nico appears on the screen, giving a shy smile with his hair falling just above his eyes, it takes Jason’s breath away. 

“I don’t know what I could say that I haven’t already told you.” Nico says. “You know how proud I am, how much I love you, and the fact that I owe so much of my happiness and openness to you.”

Jason reaches a hand over his mouth and bites onto is fist, trying to keep the harsher tears at bay. He knew this would get him. This is why he’s been avoiding all the nostalgia because he can’t think of letting these people go. 

“So, thank you for taking a chance on my nerdy, serious, and broody ass, because now I have the privilege of being your biggest fan. You are going to do amazing things, Jason, and I can’t wait to be there for all of it. Good luck tonight.”

And just when Jason thinks that the video delivered the hardest hit, Jason’s best friends Leo and Hazel take the screen together. Jason is overcome with emotions. 

“Hi Jason.” Hazel smiles, and with just a greeting, a new round of tears pile up on Jason’s cheeks. Because Hazel was his first friend at Goode. She took a chance on him. She never cared about who Jason was related to or any other talk surrounding him. She was always the number one supporter of loving Jason for who he was, and not any other label someone put on him. “We thought it was appropriate we were together for ours, so I hope you’re okay with us not getting individual videos.”

“I suggested a skywriter, but that was vetoed, so I guess this is second best.” Leo chimes in. 

“We feel like proud parents, I gotta tell you.” Hazel says, and Jason can hear a trace of wetness in her voice. “From seeing where you were last year, to the amazing person you are now, it’s just surreal.”

Leo nods, and for once there is not a trace of joking in his tone. “Superman, you always had this beautiful, kind, emotional guy within you and it makes us really happy to see you showing the world what you have to offer. Seeing you be who you want to, not who you think people want you to be.”

Hazel bites down on her lip, and Leo tugs her into his side as tears brim at her eyes just as they do for Jason watching.

“We just love you a lot.” she says, wiping at her eyes. “And I’m going to miss my best friends so much next year. I don’t know what I’m going to do, but I know that if I channel half of my Jason bravery and happiness into it, I can take on anything.”

Leo gives a wet laugh. “She’s right. We fucking love you. I’ve never had a best friend before, and I hope you know just how much you mean to me. You’re going to have such a good speech. Please flip off Mr. D for me during it, because that would be the cherry on top.”    
“It really would.” Hazel laughs. “Good luck valedictorian. See you tonight.”

And the video ends, and Jason buries his face in his hands. 

“Oh Jason.” Piper hums, wrapping her arms around him and holding him against her. 

“I thought we weren’t getting nostalgic.” Jason mumbles and Piper laughs. She leans her head onto his, and Jason can feel tears dripping from her eyes as well. Honestly how can you not want to break down in tears after something like that.

“Aw man! You said you weren’t going to show him until I got here!”

Jason pops his head up to see Leo standing in the doorway with his arms crossed. 

Jason and Piper don’t say anything, instead the beckon Leo over. He drops his backpack and wastes no time in situating himself between them into the group hug. They stay like that for a long time. Probably for Jason’s sake. Jason doesn’t know how to describe it, but like how he was walking around the neighborhood to remember every little detail, Jason feels the same way about his friends. He wants to memorize how it feels to hug them, how he feels when he’s with them, all the stupid jokes and overly emotional proclamations of love they give each other even when they didn’t have to. He thinks if he gets enough time, he can make sure he never feels without them when he’s at college. 

“You sent that to me, right?” Jason asks, finally loosening his grip on his friends.    
“Of course.”   
And for the remaining time they’re together, it’s so chill. They talk about graduation, the upcoming all night party, and the fact they’ll all have to get a million pictures tonight and some interesting interactions with each others extended family. It’s so calm, and so natural, and Jason has never felt more at ease. 4:30 creeps up unfairly fast, and Jason says goodbye to his friends for only a couple of hours before heading back to his house. Once there, Jason quickly changes into some dress pants and a button up that he had left out earlier as well as grabbing his cap, gown, and the many assorted tassels, medals, and stolls the came with it. It doesn’t take long for Jason, Thalia, and their mom to get out of the house and head to the restaurant Persephone had chosen for all of them to eat at. 

“Dad’s meeting us there, right?” Jason asks. Thalia gives him a thumbs up as she continues to read directions to their mom from the passenger seat. Jason’s not nervous. Nico had met his dad before, as he stopped by for a brief period of time during Christmas, and Jason thinks they’re fine with each other. 

Obviously, Jason doesn’t need his father’s opinion to govern anything in his life, but he likes the idea that everyone in his family embraces his boyfriend with open arms. Jason has never said anything like this to anyone, especially not Nico, but Jason does think a lot about him and Nico spending the rest of their lives together. Dating through college, moving in together, maybe even starting a family one day. Jason knows it’s too soon to be thinking that far ahead, but he can’t help it. It’s thoughts like that, that make the future exciting to Jason. Thankfully, they arrive before five, saving Persephone from a meltdown. The meet Jason’s father in the parking lot. He gives Beryl a kiss on the cheek, and offers a smile to Thalia who wouldn’t ever accept any more contact than that from him. Then he turns to Jason and offers him a hand. Jason takes it, and is surprised when his father pulls him in for a stiff hug.    
“I know you don’t need praises from me.” he admits, speaking only loud enough for Jason to hear. “You’ve done all of this on your own, no thanks to me, but I want you to know that even though I don’t always show it, I am proud of you and all you have achieved.”

As Jason pulls back, he gives his father a squeeze on the shoulder. For all that his father wasn’t for him, it means something to Jason for him to recognize the person Jason is without him. The person Jason is on his own. 

“Thank you.” Jason says, staring him in the eye. He wants to convey to his father that he does mean it. 

The four of them then walk into the restaurant together. After speaking with the woman at the front desk, they are escorted to the patio where the other half of the group is waiting. Jason makes a beeline to take the seat next to Nico, who pulls him in for a soft kiss the second he sits down. 

“I’m on time.” Jason smiles, and Nico rolls his eyes. 

“I never had any doubts.”   
Jason reaches over the table to shake the hands of Persephone and Nico’s father as a greeting, and their parents and siblings greet each other as well. It’s awkward somewhat, but also familiar. It feels like family or friends getting to know each other once again after a long time apart. Jason also doesn’t forget to swipe a hug from Hazel, who comes to his side of the table briefly for exactly that reason. Dinner begins, and it goes surprisingly well. Jason didn’t think it was going to be a trainwreck or anything, but he definitely didn’t expect the conversation to flow as easily as it did. The adults talked about Nico and Jason, not only about their graduation, but also their happiness over their relationship, which makes Jason slip his hand into Nico’s under the table, and hold in the entire rest of the dinner. Persephone and Beryl reminisce over their own high school days, and Jason sees his father laugh for maybe the first time in his life. Jason takes his time once again, trying to memorize this moment. 

Seeing his parents in the same room and happy, being with his sister, and spending time with a family that provided him a b a boyfriend as well as a best friend. As it had been the whole day, the time goes far too quickly. Just as they finish up eating, it’s time to get to the venue where they’ll be graduating. Jason gives Thalia a tight hug, and bids goodbye to his parents for the time being as he collects his cap, gown, and the lot of accoutrements that come with them, and goes inside. He and Nico arrive at the same time, and as they head in together, it doesn’t take long to locate Piper, Leo, Calypso, Will, and Frank, the group of their who are also graduating. 

The entire pre-graduation time is a blur of being with his friends, and other preparatory measures to make sure Coach Hedge, who is calling names will pronounce everyone’s name right. And before Jason even knows it, they’re all getting in line. Jason, who is at the front next to Malcolm Pace, looks back before they enter. The line is about a mile long of graduates, but Jason manages to share a glance with Nico, and catch the eyes of all of his friends, wishing them a good luck, before the doors open up and allow them inside.  Jason holds his speech in one hand, and waves at his family with the other, who he passes soon after coming inside. And just like that, they’re seated, and the ceremony begins. As it does, times seems to slow down for Jason. He feels every second of it, and it gives him all the time in the world to think about his speech, and the final parting message he wants to leave with Goode High School. He spent so much time preparing this speech, wanting it to be absolutely perfect, but if Jason has learned anything over the past two years, it’s that the best things in life often happen, unplanned. 

And that’s why, when Jason hears the introduction for him to come up and speak, he crumples up the pages he had been slaving over, and leaves them at his seat. To the tune of a stadium full of applause, Jason heads up onto the stage, and looks out at the crowd from his place at the podium. The lights are shining in his face, so each of his friends look a little bit more like shadows than people, but he knows they’re there. 

“Hi everyone.” Jason speaks into the microphone. “I’m Jason Grace, nice to meet you.”

The crowd bubbles up in laughter, and for a second Jason wants to go run and grab his speech off the ground, but he doesn’t.

“First of all, thank you all for coming out tonight. We’re all excited to graduate, and I’m sure you’re all excited to get through the ceremony, so I’ll try and keep this brief. I actually wrote this big long thing full of quotes and introspective thoughts about the passage of time, but I decided that didn’t really give Goode high school, and this class of seniors the recognition it deserves, so here I am, going off the cuff.”   
Jason takes a deep breath before continuing. 

“As most of you know, I transferred here at the beginning of junior year. And from then till now, I and everyone I know, can attest to how much I have changed. When I first came here, I was nervous, quiet, isolated, and I spent a lot of time holding back on who I was and what I wanted. I had spent most of my life doing that.” Jason admits. He knows this is pretty personal, but he feels it so important to the narrative. “And within five minutes of walking into Goode, I met someone who is now one of my best friends.” 

Jason looks out at the crowd searching for Hazel’s face. He can’t quite find her, but he hopes she knows he’s talking about her. 

“Within the first few days, I met the rest of my best friends, and within the first couple of months, I felt myself allowing me to have fun, and be happy in a way I never had before. And yeah, maybe this is all just my personal experience, but I genuinely believe that the students, the staff,”

He looks to Coach Hedge standing off to the side with a smile, and Coach reciprocates it with a grin so wide, it looks like he might split his face in two. 

“And the entire school is one that really cares for the people around them, and helps them change for the better. I mean, look at me now. I’m freaking valedictorian. I’m captain of the tennis team, I acted in a bunch of plays which I thought was something I’d never do, I fell in love and am still in love to this day, I found a group of people I want to know for the rest of my life, and most importantly, I found me. And I’d been missing me for a long time.”

Jason can feel himself getting emotional, so he tries to wrap it up. Get to the part where he wishes the seniors well. 

“So, in conclusion, what I believe everyone should remember when leaving Goode? I want you to take with you that heart, and that sense of self that you have fostered here, because that is one of the most important things you can ever receive. And while all of you are off at college, getting jobs, starting families, and doing the amazing things I know all of you are going to do, I hope you remember that Goode High School is a home for each and every one of you.”

He looks over to Coach who gives him a sign to say any last thing because his time is up, so Jason nods and looks back out. 

“Congrats graduates. We survived!”

And as Jason looks out at the standing ovation, and the friends and family he loves more than anything else, he knows that he did a lot more than survive. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy WOW. It's over! Finished! Dooooone! And I genuinely can't believe it.   
> I may have cried while writing this last chapter but I'm so proud of how far these characters have come, and I tried my best to give them, especially Jason, the ending he deserved.   
> This is the longest fic I've written to date, the first ever Percy Jackson one, and the one I am the proud and happy to have written. I want to give everyone who read any part of it, commented on it, or gave kudos on this story because you were all such amazing motivation to continue this story from the first chapter I wrote of it.   
> I do have plans for a new story that I'm working on and it'll be a little different from anything I've written before, but I felt really compelled to do this new plot, so I'm really excited to work on that, and hopefully get the first chapter of that within the next couple of weeks.   
> In the mean time, if any of you ever want to talk to me about this fic, pjo/hoo, or anything in general, I have a percy jackson tumblr that you are all welcome and encouraged to ask questions/message me on! That can be found at gracesjasons.tumblr.com . It's mostly just me reblogging stuff but hit me up if you are so inclined!
> 
> Thank you all once again for sticking with me throughout this fic and being so supportive, and I hope that the ending and the story as a whole was all you hoped it would be. <3

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first attempt at writing fic for Percy Jackson! I decided that the only person who would write the high school AU I wanted was me, so here we are.  
> I'm not too sure on the specifics where this is going, so I'm just going to have fun with it and update when I can! I hope you enjoy reading and I apologize for any grammar mistakes or spelling errors I make- those are not my strong suit.  
> I'm hoping to get another chapter up in the next few days :) Thanks for reading!
> 
> (Fic title is from Be More Chill)


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